Partners want to sit close together, especially in new marriages.

This also applies to political partnerships.

The four factions of the new coalition of the Greens, SPD, FDP and Volt in the city council want to move closer together.

"Then it is easier to exchange ideas," says Yanki Pürsün, leader of the FDP parliamentary group.

According to the FDP politician, it is particularly important to be able to communicate better among the voluntary city councilors.

Martin Benninghoff

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

  • Follow I follow

The desire for closeness emanates primarily from the Liberals, who, according to the previous seating arrangement, are separated from their coalition partners because between them and the Greens there is still the largest opposition faction, the CDU, which has 20 city councilors. "The wish of the FDP is absolutely understandable," says the leader of the SPD parliamentary group, Ursula Busch. So far, the SPD has been sitting - seen from the Presidium - in the left part of the city council, between the Left Party and the Greens. Behind them are the smaller factions of the left-wing political spectrum.

Such seating arrangements are not trivial, but applied symbolic politics - this is the case in the Bundestag and also in the “leisure parliament” in the Römer. Therefore, the wish calls the CDU on the scene: behind the FDP on the right side sits the right-wing AfD faction, which everyone with the exception of the small faction BFF-BIG has avoided. So far, the FDP has been close. If the liberals were to move up in the direction of the coalition partners, the CDU city councilors would in future be closer to the AfD colleagues they avoided in the logic of the seat hierarchy. The CDU, in turn, wants to avoid that at all costs.

The CDU parliamentary group around chairman Nils Kößler therefore spoke out in their meeting on Wednesday in favor of a move within the plenary - between the SPD and the Left Party on the other side of the city council.

This would bring the parliamentary group the desired spatial distance between itself and the AfD parliamentary group, which could be relevant, for example, with press photos from the Römer, because otherwise CDU and AfD city councilors would sit close together.

One would like to avoid this impression, also in order not to offer the opposing speakers any short cuts for rhetorical tips.

A majority decision would be necessary

According to the office of the city council, a resolution of the city council with a simple majority would be necessary - the CDU parliamentary group alone cannot achieve anything. She must bring her wish to the group chairmen and bring about a joint decision. “We actually feel at home where we sit,” says deputy group leader Yannick Schwander. However, one wants to prevent "being marginalized". Ultimately, it is about the "lesser evil".

A possible move to the left part of the city council assembly causes some party friends to shake their heads, especially since the CDU could then sit next to the Left Party, whose content is usually not sought by city council members of the CDU.

Criticism is voiced that such a debate could only unnecessarily upgrade the AfD, especially since the parliamentary group shrank with the last local election in March and is acting inconspicuously anyway.

The city council is currently still meeting in the Main Arcades due to the pandemic.