Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Berlin’s CDU and SPD Unveil Socialization Framework That Bars Expropriations

The draft seeks legal clarity by inviting constitutional review, tying any transfer to market-value compensation.

Overview

  • The coalition submitted the framework bill to the Abgeordnetenhaus as its response to the 2021 housing referendum, with a first reading planned for January.
  • The text anchors compensation at market value and limits any socialization to narrowly defined, exceptional cases with protections for the city’s budget.
  • The measure is framed broadly under public welfare services (Daseinsvorsorge) and avoids naming housing or specific companies.
  • CDU and SPD expect a Federal Constitutional Court review, and the law would take effect two years after passage to allow for legal clarification.
  • The SPD is drafting an implementing law and signals a focus on regulatory forms of Gemeinwirtschaft over costly buyouts, while the DWE initiative and Greens denounce the framework and pursue a new referendum.