After the Berlin election: Alexander Dobrindt is planning high hurdles for socialization

Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt wants to make socialization, such as the one the Left is planning in Berlin, extremely difficult. "We will make it clear in an investment protection law that arbitrary left-wing socialization fetish is incompatible with the Basic Law," said the CSU politician to the "Bild" newspaper. His ministry confirmed details of the planned law.

Accordingly, socialization of rental apartments should only be possible if an imperative necessity has been explicitly proven. A state government would then have to prove that it has fully exhausted all other means, i.e. investments in and support for housing construction, and that it has no other choice. According to the plans, if expropriation occurs, compensation would have to be paid “immediately in money” and at a market value that was determined by an appraisal.

The Left has already reacted to Dobrindt's statement: "What Dobrindt calls a 'socialization fetish' is part of the Basic Law and cannot be overridden by a law prohibiting socialization," said the spokeswoman for rent and housing policy, Caren Lay, in the "Welt". The planned investment protection law is "a legal suicide mission that will not have any blocking effect on socialization in Berlin."

The Left, the Greens and the SPD in Berlin are planning to socialize large private housing stock. The parties are targeting private companies whose inventory in Berlin amounts to at least 10,000 apartments. This emerges from their exploratory paper. The compensation costs should therefore be capped at 16 billion euros; this sum is likely to be below the market value of the apartments.

Left leader Luigi Pantisano accused Dobrindt and the entire black-red federal government of being more important to them than the tenants in Berlin. "Such a law will not stand before the Federal Constitutional Court," he emphasized, referring to Dobrindt's announcement. Now the federal SPD has to decide which side it is on: “On the side of the rental mafia or the tenants.”

The CDU/CSU parliamentary group, on the other hand, supported the Interior Minister. "Interior Minister Dobrindt's proposals are sensible and fair and essential as conditions for expropriation in a social market economy," said Union parliamentary group vice-president Günter Krings (CDU) to "Welt". »On this basis, we as the Bundestag factions of the CDU/CSU and SPD can pass a good law very quickly. This is the only way we can ensure trust in Germany as an investment location in the face of chaotic government plans in Berlin.

The constitutional lawyer Ulrich Battis also sees legal risks in Dobrindt's plans. In particular, he considers the planned determination of the amount of compensation based on the market value to be problematic. »There is constitutional leeway when it comes to the amount of compensation. I think it's risky to limit this scope with such a requirement," Battis told the Funke media group. Battis considers the remaining requirements of the planned law to be easy to implement. The crucial question, however, is “whether socialization is even possible.” According to the constitutional lawyer, a federal legal regulation would limit the options available to the states.