Building and urban development senator Andreas Geisel has spoken out in favor of the fact that the meetings of the expert commission on the subject of expropriation of large housing companies should not generally be open to the public. “In principle, the work should take place as publicly as possible. The Commission will also comply with that,” said Geisel of the German Press Agency on Monday.
The SPD politician announced that the first hearings would be public. “SPD, Left and Greens have jointly agreed that the commission should work independently, have its own rules of procedure and organize its work independently,” explained Geisel. If public advice is given in principle, this also means that there can be exceptions.
“If everything always has to be public, the result will be that you withdraw to the back room if you have to discuss something confidentially with one another.” This has been shown by the Pirate Party, which also wanted to treat everything publicly. “If it’s supposed to be a commission of experts that is also struggling to find new paths, then you have to be allowed to make mistakes without being publicly crucified,” said Geisel. “Under other framework conditions you will not get the “Who is Who” of the constitutional lawyers in Germany together.”
On the other hand, a decision by the state board of the Berlin Left Party states that non-public meetings are not compatible with the specifications for the commission if it is supposed to work “in principle in public”. The background to the debate are internal discussions on the rules of procedure that were held in the Commission. The left fears deviations from the agreements that the red-green-red government coalition had previously made in central points.
In addition, the left insists that the chair of the commission, former federal justice minister Herta Däubler-Gmelin (SPD), should play a neutral and impartial role and not take part in votes or voting recommendations.
Also due to the special interest in information of the initiative “Deutsche Wohnen
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