There are no ancestral places for them yet.
The 93 Frankfurt city councilors elected a year ago have moved into the benches in the plenary hall of the Römer for the first time in the current constellation - with a view of the Frankfurt eagle embedded in wood above the lectern.
It is a return after a pandemic of more than two years: In order to comply with the corona distance rules and the ventilation regulations, the city parliament had moved to the much larger main arcades of the municipal utilities.
Bernhard Biener
Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung
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Mechthild Harting
Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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The local politicians last sat down on the benches in the Römer at the end of February 2020.
After that, they met there twice more only in committee composition.
For more than half of today's city councilors, the experience of a full house in the Römer is completely new because they only moved into the city parliament last year.
The view of a full house from this perspective is also unusual for city council leader Hilime Arslaner (Die Grünen).
At the beginning of 2020, she had not yet held this office.
Political times were different: At that time, a coalition of the CDU, SPD and Greens ruled, with the Greens being the weakest partner due to their poor performance in the 2016 election.
Many city councilors may prefer the traditional conference venue to the vastness of the Mainarcades.
That makes the debate easier, and the way from the offices and parliamentary groups is shorter, according to experienced local politicians.
Incidentally, the in-house meetings also have a positive impact on the budget, which was on the agenda on Thursday alongside the "motion of no confidence" against the mayor: the costs for democracy are significantly lower because there is no rent for the Mainarcades.
The decision is not made by the city parliament alone
On the other hand, the deselection of the Frankfurt Lord Mayor announced by the city councilors will cause considerable expenditure.
Around 1.5 million euros are estimated for this.
Because the decision as to whether the SPD politician Peter Feldmann, who was re-elected in 2012 for the first time and re-elected in March 2018, has to give up his office, is not made by the city parliament alone.
The people of Frankfurt have to vote on it, and only if 30 percent of those entitled to vote vote in favor of deselection does the mayor actually have to give up office.
This Thursday, the city councilors first debated the "motion of no confidence" against the mayor brought by the Roman coalition - i.e. jointly by the Greens, SPD, FDP and Volt.
Not only does it provide for a vote of confidence in the mayor, but it also contains an ultimatum addressed to Feldmann: If he does not “make his office available with immediate effect”, the coalition wants to initiate the voting procedure in the plenary session on July 14 .
First, half of the city councilors would have to sign the application.
A two-thirds majority is then required for the decision.
The result of the vote for the "motion of no confidence" is expected later in the evening.
It is becoming apparent that the city parliament will adopt it with an overwhelming majority.
Only the parliamentary group on the left had announced that they would vote against it, as well as a non-affiliated city councilor and a member of “The parliamentary group”.