When the board of directors of the Frankfurt SPD appeared before the press on Thursday, everything sounded like farewell.

Party leader Mike Josef spoke again about the services that Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann allegedly rendered to the city: he opened the town hall to people who had not been heard enough there before.

Important goals have been achieved together: the rent freeze at the ABG, more subsidized apartments, free entry for children to swimming pools and museums, the student ticket and much more.

Now, however, the paths are to separate: The SPD wants “their” mayor to resign if, as can be assumed, court proceedings are opened against him.

Rainer Schulz

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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Because hardly anyone is interested in the supposed successes of the SPD these days.

Everything is superimposed by the indictment against the mayor: "As long as the issue of Peter Feldmann / AWO scandal has not been clarified, we will not get through with our content," says the statement by the SPD leadership.

The slash marks how far it has come.

The self-service affair at Arbeiterwohlfahrt is inextricably linked to Peter Feldmann, even if it is still unclear today whether he was culpably involved in it.

Clear distancing from Feldmann

The party executive says that they have shown a lot of solidarity with Feldmann.

But now it's enough: "A criminal case against the mayor is not compatible with conducting official business for the benefit of the city."

More distancing is hardly possible.

Hear the signals, the SPD board member seems to call out to Feldmann.

But the mayor hears them, but he doesn't draw the conclusions that the party leadership wants.

He wants to stay in office, he explains, and suspend party membership during the trial to protect the SPD from "discussions."

That's not possible at all: You can't just let a party membership rest, says the parliamentary group leader Ursula Busch.

Feldmann's spokesman hurriedly added that the mayor's announcement was to be understood as an informal "declaration of honor".

Whatever that's supposed to mean.

In any case, Feldmann knew in advance what the party executive wanted to announce on Thursday.

Surprisingly, he did not appear at the meeting on Monday evening at which the decision was made, despite an invitation.

But the SPD leadership had subsequently informed him of their decision that he should resign.

But a few hours before the SPD appeared before the press late Thursday afternoon, the mayor published his own statement: he wanted to continue his agenda "powerfully".

But he also wants to give his party a fresh start and not run again in 2024.

That sounds a bit hypocritical, because by not complying with his party's request to resign, Feldmann is damaging his possible successor Josef, who is in danger of losing this power struggle.

Wrong priorities

In any case, Feldmann wants to continue until 2024: "With a total of twelve years in office, I will then have been in this office longer than any social democratic mayor of our hometown before me." This sentence speaks volumes: someone here wants to set a record.

More selfishness is hardly possible.

This is all the more irritating as Feldmann claims in the same breath that the "good of the city" remains the guideline for his actions.

Party leader Josef makes it clear that he understands something different by that: Feldmann cannot pursue the city's goals 100 percent if criminal proceedings are instituted against him.

Now is not the time for games and tactics, says Josef.

A clear rebuke in the direction of Feldmann.

But the SPD has long since lost its influence over the mayor.

The deputy party leader Kolja Müller speaks of a "painful alienation process".

And Treasurer Roger Podstatny says Feldmann has always made his own decisions.

The party had hoped to be able to get rid of the uncomfortable topic with due distance to the next mayoral election.

But instead she now has to deal with a mayor who is acting ever more erratically and unpredictably.