- No appointment to the city council - much criticism of Wegner's proposal
Berlin's ruling mayor, Kai Wegner, has sparked much criticism with his latest proposal to tackle the chronically overloaded citizen offices. "The idea is that Berliners could simply go to the citizen offices on one day of the week - perhaps on Wednesdays - without a previously booked appointment," the CDU politician told the "Berliner Morgenpost" (Friday). "I believe that would greatly contribute to relief." However, even his coalition partners are not convinced, and the opposition is even less so.
The SPD considers Wegner's approach to be wrong. "The citizen offices have switched to appointment-based systems to handle matters as efficiently as possible," said SPD MP Alexander Freier-Winterwerb. "If you really want to help, you shouldn't shoot down the system, but rather find a way to prevent up to a third of appointments from going to waste because people don't show up and don't cancel."
In his view, a different approach would be more promising: "Unfortunately, it seems that in our country, something that doesn't cost anything is also not valued. Therefore, I would suggest imposing fines for missed appointments," he said.
The Greens demand that Wegner keep his word. "The goal must continue to be that one can book a citizen office appointment reliably, as is the case in every other municipality. That's what Wegner should be measured against," said MP Stefan Ziller.
"Many professionals, especially freelancers and families, cannot afford to spend half of Wednesday waiting for their turn. Therefore, this can only be an addition to the service promise of a secure appointment within a maximum of 14 days. Kai Wegner started with big promises regarding the citizen offices, and once again, it seems that in the end, only his warm words remain."
The Left also sees no merit in Wegner's proposal: "A day with free access without an appointment will only increase the chaos at the citizen offices and not reduce it. This will also put additional stress on the employees," said their parliamentary group leader Tobias Schulze. "It is already possible to simply go to the citizen office for an important matter." Instead, Schulze calls for the new positions promised to the citizen offices to be filled quickly, for the appointment booking system to be optimized, and for orientation in the citizen offices to be made easier.
FDP General Secretary Peter Langer called for administrative processes to be made more efficient, to relieve the employees in the citizen offices, and to launch a digital offensive. "Instead, Kai Wegner is opting for 'free-for-all' and hours of waiting on good luck. But Berliners don't have time to wait, and they don't deserve it," said Langer. "Berlin needs a state government that dares to do more than just manage scarcity."
The district councilor for citizen services in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Oliver Noell (The Left), also sees Wegner's idea critically: "The proposal may sound good to the ears of the citizens of our city, but it is not feasible in practice," he told the "Berliner Morgenpost".
Wegner has not kept his promise. "The number of processing slots would not be greater on a day without appointments, so the satisfaction of the citizens would hardly be increased." Apparently popular innovations should not be announced. "If all residents of the city can receive an appointment at a nearby citizen office within two weeks, appointment-free days are obsolete."
In Berlin's citizen offices, securing an appointment is a chronic issue. The ruling mayor had assured last year that this would generally be possible within 14 days by 2023. However, this did not happen. The black-red Senate aims to improve the situation by adding more staff to the citizen offices, among other measures.
In mid-June, the responsible State Secretary Martina Klement stated: "We have made significant progress in filling positions in the citizen offices. All recruitment processes for the 100 additional positions promised by the coalition have been completed since April 30th." Once they have been trained, the new employees will significantly increase the capacity in the citizen offices.
What's the SPD's stance on Wegner's proposal to change the citizen office system? They believe that rather than dismantling the current appointment-based system, a more effective approach would be to reduce the number of missed appointments by imposing fines.
After hearing the criticism from many parties, what does Wegner's Left parliamentary group leader Tobias Schulze suggest as an alternative to the proposed day with free access without an appointment at the citizen offices? He calls for the new positions promised to the citizen offices to be filled quickly, for the appointment booking system to be optimized, and for orientation in the citizen offices to be made easier.
