Abschlusskundgebung Volksbegehren Neue Energie Berlin

A referendum on the remunicipalization of the energy supply in Berlin was held on 3 November 2013. Prompted by the ''Neue Energie für Berlin'' (New Energy for Berlin) citizens' initiative in June 2013, it was approved by 83% of those who voted. However, the referendum failed due to insufficient voter turnout. 24.2% of Berlin voters voted in favor, but the

quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the ...

required 25% or more to do so.

Draft legislation

The ''New Energy for Berlin'' draft law aimed for the

remunicipalization Remunicipalisation commonly refers to the return of previously privatised water supply and sanitation services to municipal authorities. It also encompasses regional or national initiatives. Overview The concept is broadly used to cover: * Chang ...

of Berlin's energy supply that was privatized in 1997, when the city of Berlin sold its municipal infrastructure and services company Bewag to the Swedish power company

Vattenfall Vattenfall is a Swedish multinational power company owned by the Swedish State. Beyond Sweden, the company generates power in Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The company's name is Swedish for "waterfall", and ...

. It also demanded economically democratic control of the supply and a fast transition to

100% renewable energy 100% renewable energy means getting all energy from renewable resources. The endeavor to use 100% renewable energy for electricity, heating, cooling and transport is motivated by climate change, pollution and other environmental issues, ...

.Joel Stonington
Big Energy Battle: An Unlikely Effort to Buy Berlin's Grid
in:

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, March 05, 2013

Initiators

The referendum on ''New Energy for Berlin'' was initiated by the Berlin Energy Table (german: Berliner Energietisch), a non-partisan alliance of about 55 organizations, initiatives, and individual activists aiming for the remunicipalization of the municipal

energy supply Energy supply is the delivery of fuels or transformed fuels to point of consumption. It potentially encompasses the extraction, transmission, generation, distribution and storage of fuels. It is also sometimes called energy flow. This supply o ...

. The alliance was founded in 2011 as an open platform for all those lobbying for a

socially just Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

, ecologically

sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

, and economically democratic energy, gas, and heating supply in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Members of the alliance include the Berlin sections of

attac The Association pour la Taxation des Transactions financières et pour l'Action Citoyenne (''Association for the Taxation of financial Transactions and Citizen's Action'', ATTAC) is an activist organisation originally created to promote the e ...

, BUND,

People's Solidarity People's Solidarity (german: Volkssolidarität) is an organisation for elderly people in the new states of Germany, founded 1945. It was one of many important non-parliamentary mass organisations in the former socialist country, East Germany. The ...

, the Education and Science Workers' Union (GEW) as well as

community organization Community organization or Community Based Organization refers to organization aimed at making desired improvements to a community's social health, well-being, and overall functioning. Community organization occurs in geographically, psychosocially, ...

s for affordable housing and the left-wing initiative FelS. While being non-partisan, the alliance is supported by the federal sections of major parties such as the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a Green politics, green List of political parties in Germany, political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens ...

, and

Die Linke The Left (german: Die Linke; stylised as and in its logo as ), commonly referred to as the Left Party (german: Die Linkspartei, links=no ), is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 2007 as the result of th ...

Course of events

Between 11 February and 10 June 2013, the initiators collected 227,748 valid signatures of Berlin citizens, around 50,000 more than necessary to qualify for a referendum (''Volksbegehren'').

Results

References

External links

Berliner Energietisch
{{Berlin state elections 2013 referendums Referendums in Berlin Electric power in Germany 2013 in Berlin