Berlin has taken a major step towards hosting the Olympic Games after the city’s parliament backed its bid on Thursday. The German capital is now in the running to host the Summer Games in 2036, 2040 or 2044, and will enter the national selection process alongside Munich, Hamburg and the Rhine-Ruhr region.
The vote was passed by the two parties in the governing coalition, the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party, with extra support from Alternative for Germany. The Greens and The Left voted against. After roughly 90 minutes of debate, the vote was carried by a show of hands, giving the city’s senate the green light to submit the Berlin+ proposal to the German Olympic Sports Confederation.
Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner championed the bid as a chance to transform the city and raise its profile on the world stage. He is particularly keen on hosting the Games exactly 100 years after 1936, when the city last staged the Olympics under the Nazi regime. That historical link has drawn some criticism, with historian Oliver Hilmes warning that it risks looking like an unintended centenary celebration, and calling for careful handling of that context if the bid progresses.
The Berlin+ plan is built largely around venues that already exist. According to the city’s own figures, 97 per cent of the required facilities are already in place. These include the Olympiastadion for athletics, the Uber Arena for handball and judo, the Velodrom for track cycling and several other established venues. The plan also has an ambitious public dimension, with events planned in front of the Brandenburg Gate, urban sports at Tempelhofer Feld and a marathon through the city’s historic streets.
Some events would take place outside Berlin, with Leipzig, Brandenburg and the Baltic coast town of Rostock-Warnemünde all set to host certain sports. An Olympic Village is also planned on a 45-hectare site near the Olympiapark, which would later be converted into a new neighbourhood with at least 2,500 affordable homes.
The estimated cost of running the Games is 4.82 billion euros, against projected income of 5.24 billion euros, leaving a surplus of around 420 million euros. However, opposition politicians challenged those figures, pointing out that the last three Olympic Games each cost more than twice their original budget. Representatives from The Left and The Greens were blunt in their criticism, with one saying Berlin simply cannot afford the Games and another arguing the city is already falling apart.
Unlike Munich, the Rhine-Ruhr region and Hamburg, which is holding a public vote on 31 May, Berlin will not hold a referendum as it lacks the legal basis to do so. The parliamentary vote effectively replaces that public consultation. A campaign group called NOlympia Berlin is collecting signatures to try to force a popular vote, though organisers admit it is unlikely to gather the 175,000 signatures needed to trigger one.
The next key date is 4 June, when bids must be submitted to the German Olympic Sports Confederation. A special assembly on 26 September will then decide which German city will be put forward to the International Olympic Committee.
