Taxpayers Money Wasted?

German taxpayers have forked out the money to pay for the cost of government workers traveling between Berlin and Bonn and for special benefits these officials receive, according to a report on Thursday in Bild newspaper.

No other country in the world seems to be willing to afford the doubtful luxury of a seat of government split between two cities. Germany's unique situation arose from the so-called Bonn-Berlin Law of 1994 which aimed to ensure that Bonn would not suffer economically from large parts of the government moving to the new capital, Berlin.

Even today, six ministries, including those for development, defence, environment and health have their headquarters in Bonn
and only smaller representations in Berlin. Clearly, for the media the government and Berlin form an inseparable unit. But what is hardly known is that the majority of government officials still work in Bonn -- some 10, 200, while only a little over 8,000 work in Berlin.

Commuting from one place to another has become a daily phenomenon for German government workers. Some officials say that even with the help of modern telecommunications technology, such as e-mail, video conferencing and instant messaging, traveling between Berlin and Bonn is an absolute necessity.

"Sheer madness"

"I can use (those means) to have contacts with other people in the ministry in Bonn," said Rolf Eckermann, an official in the development ministry. But that was not enough, he said. "It is very difficult to work if the other people are 600 kilometers away. You have modern technology, but you have to also have the personal contact."

Lower Saxony's conservative state premier, Christian Wulff, is one of the small number of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party colleagues who have come out in favor of moving all ministries to Berlin.

"I believe that where there's a will, there's a way," Wulff has said. "The real question here is whether those affected on both sides are actually keen on a speedy solution."

Opposition Green party parliamentary spokesman Jürgen Trittin has been more direct. He's called the dual seat of government 'sheer madness.'

Many officials working in Bonn have no way of catching up with the speedy flow of information in Berlin, the former federal environment minister has said. Trittin says the decision-making process was severely hampered by the dual offices. At a time when ordinary Germans are called upon to tighten their belts, wasting money on constant commuter flights between Bonn and Berlin is no longer acceptable, he has said.

But opponents of a complete move to Berlin find it relatively easy to ward off this financial argument. They refer to a recent study compiled by an independent panel which said that the move would cost up to 5 billion euros ($6.6 billion). Compared to that, the 196 million euros spent on commuting so far seem like peanuts.