Wednesday 26, April
“Black, but shiny” A new motto for Berlin?
Berlin should be thought of as “Schwarz, aber schillernd” or “Black, but shiny”
On Wednesday, the new ruling coalition in Berlin will sign their agreement before being sworn into power tomorrow. It has been ten weeks since the repeat elections in Berlin, which saw the CDU climb to first place in the city with 28.2 percent of the vote and the SPD and the Greens drop to what was effectively a joint second place, with both parties receiving 18.4 percent. This “black-red” coalition represents the first time a CDU mayor has been in power in Berlin for more than two decades.
So how should we think about Berlin now that it is going to ruled by a conservative mayor? Klaus Wowereit was the former SPD mayor who coined the phrase “poor, but sexy” to describe the city. Speaking to rbb radio on Tuesday, he commented that that motto no longer applies. He had a new one, though. Now, he pronounced, Berlin should be thought of as “Schwarz, aber schillernd” or “Black, but shiny” which sounds… enigmatic at best. Although, perhaps with the Amazon tower being built and the Tesla factory moving in, it isn’t too inappropriate to refer to the city the same way you would to an iPhone.
