Berlin Olympic Bid Backers Push for Talks After Election Win by The Left

With The Left opposed to hosting the Games and set to lead Berlin's next government, bid organizers are asking for one more conversation before a key decision.

The team behind Berlin's push to host the Olympics wants to open a conversation with The Left, the party that finished first in Sunday's election in the German capital. The party opposes bringing the Olympic and Paralympic Games to the city. Elif Eralp, on track to become Berlin's next mayor, said after the result that she sees almost no path to a successful bid.

Berlin's Olympics commissioner, Kaweh Niroomand, argued for a final round of discussions. He noted that Eralp has campaigned on uniting the city, and that speaking once more with bid leadership would be the respectful step, whatever her stance. Eralp has called the billions the Games would require a waste of taxpayer money and said she sees nothing in it for Berlin.

Twenty trustees from the bid's board, drawn from politics, business, sport, civil society and religion, signed a letter to Eralp. They asked her to review the Berlin+ concept and urged against a rushed decision, writing that the Games could shape the city's long-term development and serve the next generation. The board, which includes The Left politician Dietmar Bartsch, wants talks before the German Olympic Sports Confederation's extraordinary general meeting on Saturday, when Germany's candidate for the 2036, 2040 and 2044 Games will be chosen. Munich and the Rhine-Ruhr region are also competing.

The Greens, a likely coalition partner for The Left, also reject the bid, while the SPD has championed it within the outgoing government. In Brandenburg, which is partnering on the bid alongside Saxony and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and would stage canoeing, rowing, football, golf and shooting, the reaction was one of surprise. Björn Lüttmann, the SPD leader in Brandenburg's state parliament, said his parliament backs the bid and views it as an opportunity for the region.