Overview
- Ministers at the spring Innenministerkonferenz in Bremerhaven could not agree on proposals to significantly expand municipal authority to ban private New Year’s fireworks.
- Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg urged granting states more flexibility under explosives law to set their own restrictions, but did not secure a majority.
- Lower Saxony Interior Minister Daniela Behrens argued that existing legal options for creating prohibition zones already address safety concerns and rejected a blanket ban.
- Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt offered to convene talks on introducing an opening clause in the federal explosives law to give states more regulatory leeway.
- The debate follows five fatalities, numerous injuries during the 2024/2025 New Year’s celebrations and a two-million-signatures petition by the police union and environmental groups calling for stricter controls.