The Senate Administration considers the planned referendum “Berlin car-free” to be inadmissible. According to an rbb report, this emerges from the statement by the department for the position of the Senate. Accordingly, the goal of a car-free inner city is unconstitutional. It violates both the Basic Law and the state constitution.

According to a spokeswoman for the interior administration, it would be disproportionate to ban private car traffic throughout the city center and only allow trips in exceptional cases, the report says. This is incompatible with the fundamental right of general freedom of action.

The interior administration had checked the admissibility of the referendum. The result went to the responsible traffic administration last Wednesday, the spokeswoman said. The transport administration will prepare a proposal for the Senate so that it can decide on its position on the referendum within the prescribed period of 15 days. That could happen as early as Tuesday in a week.

The “Berlin car-free” initiative wants to severely restrict car traffic in the Berlin S-Bahn ring. In addition, citizens should only be allowed to make up to twelve private car journeys per year in the city center. Excluded from this should be buses and taxis, commercial and delivery traffic, as well as the police, fire brigade and people with restricted mobility.

The initiative has meanwhile removed an initially planned restriction, that private trips may only be used for the transport of heavy or bulky goods or for holiday trips, due to legal concerns.

“Berlin car-free” has collected 50,000 signatures

“We have been informed verbally that the Senate Department of the Interior considers our referendum to be inadmissible,” spokeswoman for the initiative, Nina Noblé, told the Tagesspiegel on Tuesday. The Senate’s statement has not yet been submitted in writing, which is why it is currently not possible to comment on the justification of the Senate’s interior administration.

Last year, the citizens’ initiative handed over more than 50,000 signatures to the interior administration for their request and requested the initiation of a referendum. This requires 20,000 valid votes. According to an earlier check by the internal administration, this requirement was met.

The Senate’s official statement on the admissibility of the request is now pending. It was originally supposed to be available by January 5th. Because of the changes to the legal text by the initiative, this deadline had already been postponed to the beginning of March. But then there was a renewed need for discussion on the details of the referendum. (with dpa)