Overview
- The GdP Berlin handed IMK chair Ulrich Mäurer a data stick containing more than 2.2 million signatures calling for a nationwide halt to private New Year’s fireworks.
- Bremen’s Ulrich Mäurer and Berlin’s Iris Spranger backed a ban or at least powers for Länder and municipalities, citing harm to responders, people, animals and the environment after five deaths and hundreds of injuries last New Year.
- An agreement on a nationwide prohibition at the Bremen meeting is viewed as unlikely because IMK resolutions must be unanimous.
- Animal-rights activists protested outside the conference, and an INSA poll commissioned by PETA found 58% of Germans support a general ban on private fireworks.
- In regional debates, Saxony’s parliament declined a general ban as Greens pressed alternatives such as professional displays and light or laser shows, while coverage noted Dutch plans to end private fireworks from 2026/27 and several German retailers dropping sales.