SPD and Greens criticize CDU following chaos in transport committee meeting
Title: Gridlock in Motion: "The Gridlock Saga of GL"
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The committee for traffic and mobility was in disarray on Tuesday, as they struggled to make pivotal decisions regarding eight important traffic projects. The meeting ended in a standoff, with minimal progress due to the committee's inability to make decisions. The Greens and SPD have since accused the CDU of intentionally obstructing street repairs and other critical decisions.
The committee found themselves in hot water when it became apparent that they lacked the authority to make decisions. As a result, they could only note the information items, and resolutions and motions had to be delayed indefinitely. The city administration was caught off guard, sparking a flurry of discussions to address the situation.
The chaos stemmed from regulations concerning 'experts.' Factions may send these representatives to committees as stand-ins for regular elected members. However, there must always be more regular members than expert citizens in each session, or the committee cannot make decisions. On Tuesday, this stipulation wasn't met, initially causing confusion.
Each of the CDU, Greens, and SPD sent two expert citizens, while FWG, FDP, and AfD were only represented by these individuals. With 8 expert citizens against the council members, the CDU found a loophole to stymie the discussion.
As the administration noticed this discrepancy, a heated debate ensued. SPD and Greens proposed two solutions: either remove one expert citizen each from the Greens and CDU, tipping the majority in favor of council members without changing the political ratio. Or, wait for a council member from the SPD, who was en route, and discuss the information items first, before moving onto resolutions.
According to SPD and Greens, the CDU rejected both proposals, refusing to budge on the matter. The CDU instead suggested voting on only two resolutions selected by them and discussing other topics without finalizing them, or even abandoning the session altogether. The Greens and SPD agree to this compromise to prevent complete gridlock.
The CDU defends their actions, stating that the rules of engagement are known to all factions and were set by the city council for reasonable purposes. Fraktion chief Michael Metten criticizes SPD and Greens for neglecting to assign council members to important speaking roles. He accuses the SPD and Greens of losing coordination, as they struggle to fill council positions during the election season.
In a later CDU statement, they declared readiness to move important committee decisions for the city forward. Less significant motions were rejected, they added.
The Greens and SPD argue that the CDU is hampering critical progress, as they accuse the CDU of obstructing essential resolutions. Both factions point out that the CDU/FDP mayoral candidate, Alexander Felsch, had vowed speedier street renovations just the previous Monday during a public discussion. However, the CDU faction delayed necessary resolutions the very next day using procedural trickery.
Deep Dive on the Roadblocks
The following projects, initially intended to be expedited without delay, are now facing setbacks due to this unnecessary delay:
- Needs assessment for the purchase of land for the S-Bahn expansion
- Preliminary planning for Paffrather Straße between Konrad-Adenauer-Platz and Reuterstraße to speed up bus traffic
- Enhancement of the Dr.-Robert-Koch-Straße to improve access for ambulances and sidewalks to the Marien-Krankenhaus
- Renovation of the Leverkusener Straße in Schildgen to make bus stops barrier-free and renew the road surface and sidewalks
- Barrier-free expansion of the bus stop Schlodderdicher Weg
- Schulstraße KGS In der Auen to increase traffic safety for children
The Greens and SPD aim to determine if an urgent meeting of the committee can be called to quickly address and decide on these matters. The next regular meeting of the committee has been scheduled for September 2nd, mere days before the election of a new mayor and city council.
The CDU, according to Metten, is not intentionally blocking progress - as long as it can be implemented. However, he fears that it may have to be postponed to the next regular meeting due to the short-notice scheduling of an extraordinary meeting, as many active local politicians juggle both their civic and professional duties.
Jonathan Ufer, Greens' spokesperson in the committee, states, "The fact that the CDU is blocking so many vital resolutions and thus actively delaying urgently needed infrastructure improvements for traffic management is baffling and irresponsible. With this destructive policy, they are harming our city and preventing its modernization."
The SPD's transport spokesperson, Oliver Herbst, adds, "Civic politics often relies on dedicated volunteers. It can happen in short order, either privately or professionally, that a council member is absent, and an expert citizen can fill in. In the past, we had always found practical solutions among the factions in these instances. It can only be explained by the impending election campaign why the CDU faction refused a practical solution."
Note from the editor: The CDU faction has announced its own press release on the matter, which has yet to be released. As soon as it becomes available, we will make it public.
Update: The CDU's statement has been received, which we document in full below:
CDU Criticizes Sloppiness in Council Work: Mobility and traffic area committee unable to make decisions due to lack of SPD presence - CDU allows important decisions to pass nevertheless
Bergisch Gladbach, 18.06.2025 In a surprising turn of events, tensions ran high at the latest meeting of the committee for traffic and mobility yesterday evening! As the ruling majority of red-green was once again unable to organize enough council members for the meeting, the oppositional CDU called the decision-making ability of the committee into question. At the same time, the Christian Democrats declared themselves ready to carry important decisions of the committee for the city. Less significant applications were rejected.
"We had to make a statement against the inaction in key committees of the city," said the transport policy spokesperson in the committee, Lutz Schade. This is because in recent times, the majority of the council has been unable to organize decision-making committees due to too few council members from the SPD and Green factions being present, and they were replaced by experts contrary to the rules of procedure. We have tolerated this in the past to ensure the functionality of the committees, but now a limit of tolerability has been reached, Schade explained.
The 'CDU' has defended their actions in the 'policy-and-legislation' of the city's traffic and mobility committee, stating that the rules of engagement are known to all factions and were set by the city council for reasonable purposes. However, the 'Greens' and 'SPD' accuse the 'CDU' of intentionally obstructing essential resolutions related to important infrastructure improvements for traffic management, such as the S-Bahn expansion, Paffrather Straße, Dr.-Robert-Koch-Straße, Leverkusener Straße in Schildgen, barrier-free expansion of the bus stop Schlodderdicher Weg, Schulstraße KGS In der Auen, and the renovation of the Schulstraße KGS In der Auen for traffic safety.
