The lingering repercussions of the devastating 2021 floods continue to spark urgent calls for reform within North Rhine-Westphalia’s (NRW) administrative processes. Thomas Wilk, Regierungspräsident of Cologne, is now advocating for a legally enshrined priority for flood protection projects, arguing that protracted legal challenges are actively hindering critical infrastructure development and leaving communities vulnerable.
Speaking to the “Kölnische Rundschau”, Wilk drew a parallel with the implementation of wind energy infrastructure, suggesting that public interest should prevail over individual objections and that lawsuits should no longer hold up progress. He highlighted that even three and a half years after the catastrophic flooding, substantial structural improvements had yet to be implemented in severely impacted municipalities. “If a similar intense storm cell had passed over Bad Münstereifel again, the same areas would have been flooded as in 2021” he stated, directly attributing the delay not to bureaucratic inertia, but to the extensive investigations and expert assessments required for each retention basin and flood storage area.
Wilk’s call comes as part of a broader push for administrative streamlining, championed by the “Initiative für einen handlungsfähigen Staat” (Initiative for a Functional State), a group founded by figures including former federal ministers Peer Steinbrück and Thomas de Maizière and former Constitutional Court President Andreas Voßkuhle. The Cologne regional government, which oversees a substantial portion of NRW with a population of 4.5 million, is being proposed as a model region for experimental reforms, potentially leading to the adoption of similar reforms across the state and beyond.
Beyond prioritizing flood protection, Wilk voiced concerns about the prioritization of individual interests over the collective good. He argued that a fundamental shift is needed, advocating for minimizing regulatory burdens and explicitly criticizing the implementation of quotas, using the example of accessible housing requirements. “I am for more market freedom” he stated, emphasizing the importance of attracting investment, particularly in a society facing an aging population.
A key component of the proposed reform involves the introduction of a “fictional permit” principle, designed to expedite approvals. Currently, permit processing is often complicated by the involvement of multiple agencies, causing significant delays. Wilk illustrated this with the example of a Cologne ship docking facility reconstruction that required a year for approval. Under the proposed model, agencies would be given strict deadlines; failure to respond within that timeframe would constitute automatic approval, allowing the project to proceed.
The initiative’s proposal to utilize the Cologne regional government as a pilot region is indicative of a growing discontent with the perceived sluggishness of German bureaucracy and signals a willingness to experiment with radical solutions aimed at bolstering resilience and facilitating much-needed progress, particularly in the face of climate change and its growing impact.