Hardly anyone in the Frankfurt SPD is surprised.

"But we know our Peter," many say after Mayor Feldmann announced that he would remain in office despite the great outrage at his missteps and numerous calls for his resignation.

For the SPD and its reputation, he is increasingly becoming a problem.

Rainer Schulz

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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How do you get rid of someone who doesn't want to leave voluntarily?

The local association chairmen try it with good persuasion.

Feldmann's announcement that until the end of the summer break there would be almost no representative appointments in the Paulskirche and Kaisersaal is not nearly enough, they write in a "letter from the SPD party base" and turn to Feldmann almost imploringly: "Your behavior in the last days, but also your handling of the allegations made show us that you obviously did not understand the seriousness of the allegations and the scope of the situation in which you find yourself.

With this behavior you are not only causing immense damage to yourself, but also to the SPD.”

Feldmann is too much the center of attention

The party comrades are obviously fed up with the fact that everything revolves around Feldmann as a person.

"We, as volunteer members of our party, want to be able to credibly represent our politics to the citizens of Frankfurt again.

Our social-democratic content and political projects must be the focus.” The refusal to resign immediately, as the party executive had demanded, was “completely incomprehensible to us and further damages your reputation and, unfortunately, that of the SPD as well.”

26 chairmen and their deputies from the local associations signed, including well-known names such as Gregor Amann, Uli Labonté, Sieghard Pawlik, Roger Podstatny and Kristina Luxen.

The party leadership has since resigned.

Apparently she no longer believes that she can use arguments to persuade the head of town hall to resign.

At least that is what the words of deputy party chairman Kolja Müller suggest: “If Peter Feldmann wants to do something for the SPD, then he must leave the party.” The statutes do not provide for party membership to be suspended, as Feldmann would like.

The party leadership reacted angrily to Feldmann's announcement that he would continue to take care of the major social problems in Frankfurt.

With his self-centered and vain behavior, the mayor is preventing people in need from being helped: "He can support these issues by making room," says Müller.

It's about the citizens not about Feldmann

And the party chairman Mike Josef follows up: These topics have not played a role for months because everything revolves around Feldmann.

The mayor did not understand that it was about the city and its citizens and not about himself.

Citizens have a right to the mayor taking care of their needs and not his.

"In order for the people and the city to be the focus, he cannot be the focus himself," says Josef.

The mayor is fighting an inner struggle with himself and has lost touch with reality.

"A city cannot be run like that."

The trenches are now deep.

Apparently Josef and Feldmann don't talk to each other anymore.

In any case, the decision of the party executive on Monday to ask the mayor to resign immediately was communicated to Feldmann by managing director Sebastian Maier and not by Josef.

In a statement, the party executive reproaches Feldmann for having alienated himself from social-democratic principles and speaks of a “break with our party”.

Josef says: "He can no longer be part of the solution."