Overview

• ZDF confirms its live New Year’s broadcast "Willkommen 2026" will originate from Hamburg’s HafenCity after a funding dispute in Berlin.
• The private organiser Berlin feiert Silvester canceled the long-running Brandenburg Gate party after the Senate scrapped subsidies, a move Mayor Kai Wegner defended as sparing taxpayers.
• A cultural alliance including Verein Warriors and co-organizer Holger Werner has registered a New Year’s Eve rally at the Brandenburg Gate with an estimated 100,000 participants.
• Organisers say a stage, a Ferris wheel and a large fireworks display are booked, and Berlin police confirm a demonstration of that size has been registered.
• The Senate Chancellery says talks continue on how to shape New Year’s at the Gate, with officials maintaining Berlin will still ring in 2026 there.