Main entrance of the Olympic Stadium
© dpa
Berlin is planning a budget of up to six million euros for its Olympic bid in the financial years 2025 to 2027.
A special project group will be set up, headed by the capital's Olympic representative, Kaweh Niroomand. "The Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are a great opportunity - for Berlin, but also for Germany," said Berlin's Governing Mayor, Kai Wegner.
At a press conference, the CDU politician said that he was firmly convinced that the Olympic Games in Germany were a right and good goal, which everyone - the federal government and the federal states - would support: "But I am also firmly convinced that a German bid without Berlin will definitely be more difficult." It is also an investment program for the city.
For the time being, Berlin is competing nationally with Hamburg, Munich and the Rhine-Ruhr region. All four have successfully mastered the first stage of the bid plan. They now have until the end of May next year to further refine the content and operational aspects of their concepts with the German Olympic Sports Confederation.
By June 2026, they will be able to obtain the opinion of the population in a referendum before the decision on a German candidate is made in the fall. It has not yet been decided when Germany will bid internationally. The Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2036, 2040 or 2044 are on the cards.
According to an rbb report, Berlin also intends to use the €6 million budget to create up to twelve full-time positions in the project group. A further four full-time positions are to be created in the Senate Department for the Interior and Sport in order to further develop the bid concept. A board of trustees made up of representatives of the city's society, chaired by Wegner and the Senator for the Interior and Sport, Iris Spranger, will act in an advisory capacity "particularly with regard to involving and convincing the Berlin population", according to rbb.