They park on cycle paths, race through the city and drive drunk: while ordinary people are consistently asked to pay, foreign diplomats have a kind of free pass. The Berlin police counted 9,973 traffic violations by diplomats last year.
The amount of warning money or fines that were actually due for this, which the diplomats did not have to pay, is 201,098.50 euros. This emerges from a response from Interior Secretary Torsten Akmann (SPD) to a parliamentary question from CDU MP Frank Balzer.
Diplomats enjoy immunity from prosecution. Therefore, all criminal proceedings by the Berlin public prosecutor’s office were discontinued. For the same reason, administrative offenses were not prosecuted.
Currently, 2550 vehicles of the diplomatic corps – from embassies, consulates and international organizations – are registered in Berlin.
The diplomatic missions that stand out the most are those of Saudi Arabia, Greece, the US, Iraq, Russia, Sudan, Egypt, Yemen, Indonesia and Turkmenistan. The most frequently detected offenses are parking violations, followed by speeding. This is also due to the fact that some embassies have a particularly large fleet, such as the USA with 211 and Russia with 146 cars.
The number of traffic violations has been declining for several years. There was a peak in 2015 with more than 24,000 administrative offences, in 2018 there were more than 21,000 and in 2020 there were 12,570 administrative offences.
In 2015 and 2018, the number of accidents involving diplomatic cars was almost 80. Last year – from January to November – there were 46 accidents. 15 people were slightly injured. Data for December are not yet available. In 28 cases – a good 60 percent – there was a suspicion of escape. In 2019, the proportion was even 70 percent.
In these cases, too, the German authorities have no legal authority to impose sanctions. The officials are required to politely escort drunk traffic hooligans home when in doubt.
According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, immunity applies to the country in which the respective diplomat is accredited. Therefore, German diplomats abroad are also protected from any criminal prosecution.
There was a particularly serious accident in June 2017 in Neukölln: An employee of the Saudi Arabian embassy had parked his Porsche Cayenne on a cycle lane with absolute parking restrictions. As he opened the door, a cyclist crashed into it with full force. He died in the hospital. The diplomat was recalled, and Saudi Arabia promised the bereaved financial compensation.