It was a different time in several respects: Three years ago, in August 2019, the Lord Mayor of Frankfurt, Peter Feldmann (SPD), visited the 337-meter-tall telecommunications tower, attracting media attention.

Also present at the top of the pulpit of the "Ginnheimer Spargels", which was built in 1979 and which, amusingly enough, is located within Bockenheim's district, was a member of the Bundestag from Hamburg: Johannes Kahrs, then chairman of the SPD in the budget committee.

He was the most important man that day because he had a major influence on the allocation of federal funds.

Gunter Murr

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Feldmann wanted to convince him that the federal government would share the costs of making the pulpit at a height of 227 meters accessible to the public again.

After all, he did the same in Hamburg and Dresden, and Frankfurt didn't want to be left behind.

In fact, in the fall of 2019, the budget committee of the Bundestag released around 25 million euros as part of cultural funding - on the condition that the city takes over the other half of the costs.

Not much has changed so far

In a feasibility study, they were estimated at 49 million euros, mainly because of the investments required for fire protection.

Due to security concerns, the viewing platform, discotheque and restaurant were closed in 1999.

So far, not much has changed in the direction of reopening the public areas.

Times are different today than they were in 2019. The corona pandemic began just a few weeks after the decision was made by the budget committee.

And the protagonists from back then are also in crises: Feldmann has to answer in court in the fall and face a voting procedure, Kahrs, who has since left the Bundestag, is under pressure in connection with the Cum-ex affair.

Financial resources have become even more scarce as a result of the war in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, the federal government has promised to cover 50 percent of the costs.

According to Deutsche Funkturm, the owner of the tower, which is now a listed building, the fact that nothing has happened so far is due to the Lord Mayor of Frankfurt.

"The basic requirement for the funding is co-financing, which Mayor Peter Feldmann did not push ahead with," the company said on request.

"Therefore, this is still pending today."

Financing remains controversial

Deutsche Funkturm points out that the city does not have to shoulder the co-financing alone.

“In the case of our television tower in Dresden, for example, 50 percent is financed by the federal government, 25 percent by the state and 25 percent by the city.

A comparable solution would also be conceivable in Frankfurt.”

The mayor's considerations also go in this direction.

His spokesman said he had contacted Finance Minister Michael Boddenberg (CDU) about state involvement.

According to the Ministry of Finance, there are no sufficiently meaningful and reliable documents on the project.

There is also no information as to how much the city of Frankfurt expects the state to contribute to the total costs.

"In this respect, we initially see it as the city's turn to create clarity on these two points as a basis for further discussions, for which the state is happy to be available."

Either way, the city would have to raise an amount in the double-digit millions to open the tower.

It is questionable whether the coalition of Greens, SPD, FDP and Volt would be willing to do so.

In any case, the coalition has not yet spoken about this, as the SPD parliamentary group leader Ursula Busch said.

"In view of the budgetary situation, we have to think very carefully about what we are spending the money on." And the leader of the Greens, Dimitrios Bakakis, is also skeptical: "In the long term it's definitely a nice thing, but I can't imagine that the opening of the telecommunications tower is currently a priority.”