The Frankfurt city councilors actually wanted to decide on the board of trustees for the European Paulskirchen Prize on Thursday evening. But at midnight, following a tumultuous session, the issue was adjourned.
It was in the middle of the night when the leader of the SPD parliamentary group in the Römer, Ursula Busch, took the floor following the meeting had been interrupted. The coalition will not decide on the proposal for filling the board of trustees for the planned Paulskirchen Prize at this meeting, she said. The reason is the massive criticism of the process with which the committee was put together. “We will now take a very close look at the process once more,” said Busch – and sounded both exhausted and annoyed. Because they, too, and above all the SPD, had been sharply attacked in the hours before.
The city council had fought hard regarding the composition of the board of trustees for the European Paulskirchen Prize. The opposition saw democratic principles as being ignored. And for a formal reason. In the application for the award, the magistrate stipulated that the city council should elect the members of the board of trustees on the basis of a joint proposal of the presidium of the city council and the city council. The Presidium was not asked.
Dispute over Bappler wolf
“The composition of the board of trustees has been worked out. The procedure involving the presidium of the city council meeting was not complied with,” said city councilor Jutta Ditfurth (Ökolinx) in the committee of elders, which preceded the city council meeting.
She also criticized the naming of Thomas Bäppler-Wolf (SPD). “He made racist remarks. He’s the wrong person for the Board of Trustees, and his apology doesn’t change that,” said Ditfurth. The background is Bäppler-Wolf’s comparison of migrants with monkeys in connection with the incidents during New Year’s Eve in Berlin. In the discussion late in the evening, Falko Görres (DieParty) said regarding Bäppler-Wolf: “Only those who have internalized racism say something like that.” Pearl Hahn (Linke) said that Bäppler-Wolf’s appointment to the Board of Trustees “rewards racism.”
The SPD faction leader Ursula Busch jumped to the side of her party friend in the elders’ committee. “It’s difficult to call someone a racist. Bäppler-Wolf made a mistake, for which he apologized.”
Left: “Price threatens to become a farce”
City council leader Hilime Arslaner (Greens) criticized Busch: “You shouldn’t call racist statements a mistake, that’s a trivialization.” Ursula Busch then: “I admit that the term error is not appropriate at this point.”
Bäppler-Wolf did not comment in the plenary hall. He wrote on Facebook during the debate: “I never forget anything, no action, no name and no face (Agatha Christie).” Whether there was a connection to the discussion remained unclear.
“This price threatens to become a farce,” judged Michael Müller (left). “Nobody questions the price, we want to save it,” said Müller. However, he complained that the Presidium should have been involved. Nils Kößler saw it that way: “The agreed procedure was not followed,” said the CDU parliamentary group leader. Civil rights activists, historians, political personalities have so far been missing from the jury. The previous schedule might not be kept either. Like Jutta Ditfurth, Kößler proposed the first award ceremony in the coming year. Then the Board of Trustees should be recomposed.
Mayor sticks to award ceremony this year
Mayor Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg (Greens) insisted on awarding the prize for the first time on May 21 as part of the 175th anniversary of the German National Assembly. The Board of Trustees will begin its work in March. She dreamed of giving a worthy prize. “This year we want to set a signal for human rights,” said the mayor. Eskandari-Grünberg explained that the jury is not set in stone for the future. She would have liked the SPD to nominate someone other than Bäppler-Wolf.
The Greens stated that they had proposed a renowned philosopher in Rainer Forst and a recipient of the Frankfurt Integration Prize and the Federal Cross of Merit in Virginia Wangare Greiner. Volt, in turn, nominated Tony Sender award winner Eleonore Wiedenroth-Coulibaly. These proposals do justice to the importance of the prize and are not party-politically tinged.
Forty minute break
The banker Rüdiger von Rosen is to move into the board of trustees. He would take the place of Nils Kößler, who no longer wishes to participate. But a few moments before this composition was decided in the city parliament, the leader of the Greens, Dimitrios Bakakis, stood up and demanded a 15-minute break in the session. “We need advice,” he said. Apparently, the previous discussion regarding Bäppler-Wolf and the non-compliance with the procedure had affected the Greens in particular.
The requested quarter of an hour turned into almost 40 minutes, during which hectic and intensive discussions took place in the corridors. Then Ursula Busch announced the postponement of the magistrate’s bill. The city councilors agreed to the adjournment, and Mayor Hilime Arslaner (Greens) called for the next item on the agenda. It was regarding a toilet concept for Frankfurt.
