There was certainly no lack of declarations of love on Monday evening.

There was, for example, the almost 80-year-old Mainz honorary citizen Margit Sponheimer, who for the given occasion - after all, it was time to say goodbye to the long-standing mayor Michael Ebling (SPD) - went onto the stage of the cultural center to see the beauties of "Moguntia". sing about

Meanwhile, Mayor Günter Beck (Die Grünen) looked back "with nostalgia and appreciation" on ten years together alongside the head of town hall, who surprisingly moved to the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of the Interior in October.

He confessed how much he would miss the Friday service meetings, often with Mett rolls or meat sausage appetizers.

Then came the confession of the Prime Minister, Malu Dreyer (SPD), that she had always had an eye on this man:

Markus Schug

Correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.

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So this is how interior ministers are recruited.

Because his office is in the middle of Mainz, directly on Schillerplatz, Ebling should still be visible in the city despite his many new tasks.

The change to the state government was not a decision against Mainz for him, assured the 55-year-old Mombacher, who joined the SPD almost 40 years ago and has in the meantime also worked as state secretary for the state.

Brimstone brimstone butterfly

As the head of the town hall, the self-confessed Fastnachter, who from now on will probably have to avoid the Mombach bean chisels from the office, seemed to have found his parade role.

"Ebling has thus fulfilled his childhood dream," reveals interim mayor Beck: "Within ten years you have created a different, livelier, nicer, stronger and more livable city." In addition, Ebling has always stood for the right attitude to life.

Because the cosmopolitan Mainz, which due to the high trade tax income has recently also been doing very well economically, is just "market breakfast and metropolis", the laudator said.

As the highest representative of the Rhineland-Palatinate municipalities and chairman of the Rhineland-Palatinate Association of Cities, we owe a number of unforgettable sentences to the newly appointed Minister of State, said Beck.

He recalled a Tagesschau interview and Ebling's statement: "Anyone who believes that German environmental aid helps the environment also believes that brimstone butterflies fold lemons."

The "doing Mainzer", who sometimes had himself photographed as Dagobert Duck bathing in money for a cult video of the "Drecksäck" carnival club, is not a self-promoter, said Beck.

Ebling's record is impressive: instead of the promised 6,500 apartments, 9,000 apartments were built within ten years, the Mainzelbahn was put on track and the overdue town hall renovation, henceforth with a café and outside staircase, was started.

With the modernized Rheingoldhalle, the city finally has an attractive venue again, for the first time with real access to the river.

Not a serious Field Marshal

ZBM Holding has long been a functioning city group.

In addition, the companies close to the city, such as Wohnbau Mainz GmbH, which was almost on the verge of bankruptcy in 2009, are now as healthy and strong as they need to be to be able to help the community.

Last but not least, according to Beck, Mainz set out early on to achieve climate neutrality: if possible by 2035.

"There's nothing better after cheese," said Thomas Becker, Field Marshal of the Guard of Honour, who, as a carnival speaker, shouldn't be taken too seriously.

Because it is actually certain that there will be a mayoral election in February - with seven potential applicants so far.

Ebling "designed the change, many things were rethought and turned inside out," said Dreyer, the former social affairs department head in Mainz, about the skills of the freshly recruited Minister of the Interior.

Biotechnology from Mainz

Ebling spoke of being on the threshold: "We have opened the door to the 21st century." The expansion of biotechnology is an opportunity, the potential is huge.

In his understanding, there are two world-changing inventions from Mainz: book printing with movable metal type, which goes back to Johannes Gutenberg, and the Corona vaccine from Biontech, which “has made us the pharmacy of the world”.

Before he took office, he always had the impression "that Mainz is not doing well enough nationwide".

The fact that this could be changed is not least thanks to the six full-time department heads;

but also many others who volunteered: whether in the city council, in the local advisory councils or elsewhere in Mainz - as well as the employees of the administration.

Then, at the very end of the farewell evening, a few tears were shed in the hall before it was time to take a quick “selfie with the ex”.