It gives the city of serious compensation

V ieillotte, obsolete, narrow, dilapidated places: Bonn Central station is not a good business card. It could easily leave the traveller in transit the impression that the Federal Republic of Germany, which celebrates its sixty years tomorrow, has stored its former capital to the dustbin of history. But that venture a little further in the city discovers any another reality: a bourgeois city vibrant, bubbly, almost licked, proud of its past and confident in the future. Ten years after the move of a large part of the ministries, embassies and lobbies to Berlin, the city of Bonn not only has not withered, but was developed and enriched.

The population increased from 313.000 to 307.000 souls between 1993 and 2000, returned to 316.000 inhabitants last score, aided by a remarkably high birth rate in a Malthusian country. Real estate prices have not declined: Bonn remains one of the 10 most expensive cities in Germany. Two heavyweights of the DAX, Deutsche Post and Deutsche Telekom, settled there. And Solarworld, Prodigy of the solar industry created ten years ago, now rated at Tec - DAX, could soon join the flagship index of the place of Frankfurt. Since the new headquarters of the company, sumptuous, his boss and founder, Frank Asbeck, provides that "the effects of the crisis are felt way very down in Bonn. GDP exceeded EUR 42,000 per capita, against an average 28,000 euros nationale. Bonn, or the history of a completed conversion of master hand.

Its inhabitants return but by far. June 20, 1991, the sky falls them on the head: the Bundestag decides to a small majority to transfer the seat of Government to Berlin. "On many wept, that day, in the old town hall", remembers Monika Hörig, responsible for the communication of the city. There was an incredible emotion, a feeling of abandonment, of ingratitude. "There is a concern then, of course, a terrible decommissioning, a sad future of suburban chic of the fourth town of the country, Cologne, remote of barely 20 kilometres. There is also concern that the legacy of the modest "Bonner Republik", this federalism that gave the country 40 years of democratic vitality and an economic miracle, is threatened by the referred Imperial and centralization of a city where the Germany the more black hours have passed.

Serious offsets

Within weeks the vote Cleaver, the city is yen, despite everything. The elected representatives of the entire region began to work to identify the assets into which it can establish its future prosperity. The Berlin-Bonn 1994 Act reflects the fruits of their reflections. It gives the city of serious compensation. Six departments remain. Bonn must keep more departmental officials Berlin (today a little more than 9,000, against just under 9,000). 20 Federal agencies are requested to come to land at the edge of the Rhine, among which the Court of Auditors and the Office of cartels.

To maintain the international aura of its former capital, the Federal State (guided by a certain conscience) Decides to make a host city of the United Nations, specialized in environmental issues. The stroke of genius is to attract the Secretariat in charge of climate change (UNFCCC). "He employed originally a few dozens of people, it is today at 320 and should soon reach the 500," predicted Harald Ganns, Adviser to the United Nations Campus. 19 UN organizations located in Bonn employ now 700 people in the "langer Eugen", the old Tower of Deputies. These new activities obviously attract dozens of NGOs. Still, nothing surprising, therefore, that Bonn currently houses more than 160 nationalities. Last application date: the seat of the future Agency for renewable energies, Irena, that covet also Copenhagen, Vienna and Abu Dhabi. Verdict in a month.

To prepare for the future, the majority of financial transfers in the Bonn-Berlin Act, some 1.43 billion euros in total, is assigned to scientific projects. Objective: strengthen the bonnoise tip of the triangle says "ABC", formed with Aachen and Cologne, recognized as one of the densest areas of research in Europe. Finally, because they are well continue to enjoy the music and museums offer that ensured them their former status, and attract tourists, the Bonnois invest in culture. They appropriated for example Beethoven, even though he spent most of his adult life in Vienna, and was proud today of an annual festival of world renowned. They capitalize on the glorious past. The "bungalow of Chancellors", a strange building built by Ludwig Erhard in which Helmut Kohl until 1999, has lived has be renovated, with period furniture. More than 200 groups have already reserved a tour of the residence, between the Rhine and the old Chancery, Palais Schaumburg, a sculpted Park where abound squirrels and rabbits.

The metamorphosis of Bonn is prepared at the time where the former Ministry of posts and telecommunications gave birth to two private, giants who would know a spectacular growth: Deutsche Telekom and Deutsche Post, today the first two employers in the city. The Post asked Helmut Jahn to build in the hollow of a meander 162.5 m high tower. Or 5 metres more than the Cathedral of Cologne... The company, become a global player in logistics, well considered move elsewhere, but ultimately remained.

Recognized University

All the actors in economic life, it is true, promoting the benefits of the "location". Michael Mertes, head of the representation of the Land of Rhineland - North Rhine - Westphalia (NRW) in Berlin, said that "many people in Berlin have the impression that the rest of the Germany, it is the province, but it is completely false." "Bonn is at the heart of the greater space technology Europe, populated with the Benelux countries, of 45 million inhabitants. Among other strengths: a University recognized for excellence, the proximity of the airport of Cologne and... of the European institutions: Brussels is two hours by car rolling German, means. Useful for network industries, in which the EU dictates the rules. All rooms also emphasize the high quality of life: cultural offer, the the warmer climate of Germany, joggings along the Rhine, which can, also, to make rowing, some cables from the barges.

Voluntarism of the Federal State, wise investment, internationalisation, good location... Has the long list of factors explaining the success story, add a certain provision of the Rhénans mind. "The region has always been a challenge for the major European powers", said Hans Walter Hütter, Chairman of the House of the history of the RFA. Its inhabitants saw in passing, of the conquerors, Romans to the Prussians, passing by the Napoleonic armies. Hence, provides it, a "great capacity to adapt."

Problems, of course, the city has. Debts: 2.800 euros per capita, against less than 1,500 euros on average at the national level. The Chamber of commerce, Michael Swoboda claims "new roads to decongest the South of the city, a better service in public transport for the former governmental district, a diversion of rail freight traffic. But in total, the feeling prevailing is a found serenity. After all, as the "Constitution" Rhine, a list of 11 popular aphorisms written in the dialect local, close to the Dutch, "it always went well so far."

From Berlin, (nor) resentment. In "Pantheon", cabaret worship, Harald Kirsch notes that the jokes on the new capital were much rarer. They trigger "of laughter less tense than at the beginning of the 1990s". "". "And it reads more horrors on Bonn in the Berlin press than the reverse," said Joachim Westhoff, former editor-in-Chief of the "General Anzeiger".

A subject, however, quickly cause a certain tension: the eventual complete removal of all ministries to Berlin. A debate once, which is less on efficiency losses, or the fatigue of personnel on the move, as the financial cost of the double implementation. "A full move would cost billions, then the cost of corporate personal shuttle return less than EUR 10 million per year," deals with force Monika Hörig.

Behind the controversy lies a most fundamental issue: the defence of federalism defined in 1949. Assured about their future, the Bonnois lead this fight in pride seeing history to write their eyes. At the forefront, and the economic weight of his Land, comparable to that of the Netherlands, Michael Mertes designs as an "Ambassador of the West". A vaccine against any attempt of centralization.