Berlin's governing mayor, Kai Wegner, is facing intensifying pressure and calls for his resignation after admitting he gave false accounts of his response to a major blackout that struck the city in January 2026. With a state election approaching in September, even his governing coalition partners have demanded he step down over the scandal, dubbed the "tennis court gate" by German media.
A court forced Wegner's office to release communications records, revealing that his first phone call on the day of the blackout did not occur until 12:45 p.m. — with Economy Senator Franziska Giffey. This contradicted his earlier claim in a television interview that he had begun phoning crisis teams and utility officials from 8:08 a.m. that morning.
The blackout, triggered by an arson attack on a cable bridge on Jan. 3, 2026, left roughly 100,000 residents in southwest Berlin without power for up to several days. Wegner subsequently acknowledged communicative errors and apologised, but the political fallout has continued to mount.