Bavaria's Söder threatens to review fiscal equalization and capital city funding if Left Party governs Berlin

Commentary by Uwe Rada

Publication Date: September 26, 2026 — 8:08 PM

Berlin has voted, and the electoral victory of the Left Party in the capital is causing a stir as far away as Bavaria. And not only there.

The threat from Bavaria came with a swaggering, Bavarian bravado. Should Berlin actually be governed by the Left Party following last Sunday's election, Markus Söder proclaimed at the CSU parliamentary group retreat in Kloster Banz, then the fiscal equalization system (Länderfinanzausgleich) would be put to the test once again: "We are endlessly fed up with having to pay for the weaknesses of others and for misguided policies."

Not even contracts are sacred to Markus Söder anymore. Even the recently signed capital city financing agreement could be reexamined in this case, Söder stated. Pacta sunt servanda? Not when a Left Party figure named Elif Eralp governs Berlin! Bavaria is bringing out the heavy artillery. And they are not alone. "Markus Söder is right," chimed in Hesse's Minister President Boris Rhein (CDU). "No tax money for antisemites and left-wing extremists."

The good citizens of Berlin naturally wonder what other tricks these two self-appointed enforcers of "proper" politics have up their sleeves. Will federal police soon be stationed in front of Berlin's Red Town Hall, checking who enters?

The lines written so far in this text are, of course, tinged with a certain bewilderment. Because outside Berlin, the demand to cut off funding to a left-led Berlin will find widespread approval. The place that was once a destination of longing for everyone who wanted to leave the provincial mustiness behind—this must-have of metropolitan urban feeling—has long since become the filthy hole in whose gleeful disdain the entire republic unites in brotherly and sisterly solidarity. Too Babylonian. Too grimy. Too failed.

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And without money from the federal government, they rub their hands raw, thinking it won't take much for someone to finally deliver the coup de grâce to Berlin. Yet much of what people turn their noses up at about Berlin isn't even wrong. The piles of trash are mounting; on some corners, the evidence of the broken windows theory can be demonstrated minute by minute. And when the dirty spots are cleaned up, new ones appear elsewhere. Shameful!

Also Dreadfully Expensive

But Berlin isn't just dirty—it's also dreadfully expensive. That's precisely why the Left Party, which wants to "make Berlin affordable," won the election. Aren't rents skyrocketing in Munich too? Or even in Wiesbaden? So why not introduce a rent cap there as well? The federal government would only need to empower the states with an opening clause.

So far? Nothing doing. What are the problems of cities in a sprawling state? And if push comes to shove, the Bavarian swaggerer might even cut off funding to his own state capital because it's now governed by the Greens. It wouldn't be beneath him.

For all the jesting the topic invites, the provincial posturing with which the Bavarian and the Hessian deliver their conservative big-city hatred has a history. It is the big-city critique of the Weimar Republic. Clean countryside versus filthy Moloch. Where does that lead? The TV series "Babylon Berlin" is currently airing again.

The matter is also quite serious because the threats against a left-wing Berlin are harsher than those against a potentially AfD-led Saxony-Anhalt.

So, keep your mouths shut down there in the South. Because we in the North can play that game too. If you stop sending us money, we'll just use the wind power for ourselves and cut off your electricity.

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Uwe Rada Editor, taz.Berlin

Born 1963, Uwe Rada is an editor for urban development at taz. His other focus areas include Eastern Europe and Brandenburg. His most recent book, "Morgenland Brandenburg. Zukunft zwischen Spree und Oder", was published by Bebra. He also coordinates the online dossier "Geschichte im Fluss" (History in Flow) for the Federal Agency for Civic Education. Uwe Rada lives in Berlin-Pankow and in Grunow in the Schlaubetal region.

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