It's tight and snug, and the atmosphere has something of a flat-sharing party about it.

The “political happy hour with Mike Josef” takes place on the mezzanine floor of an old building on Schweizer Strasse in Frankfurt's Sachsenhausen district.

You stand tightly packed, getting to know each other is not difficult.

It's not packed, but it's pretty busy.

And to ensure that the Green Party's New Year's reception is taking place at the same time, a number of well-known names have also turned up, especially from the cultural sector.

You can see the musician Stefan Hantel aka Shantel, the DJ Ata Macias, museum director Mathias Wagner K., theater director Willy Praml and the former SPD mayor Andreas von Schoeler.

The architect Jürgen Engel, actually not a socialite, does the honors.

Rainer Schulz

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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They all have in common that they think Mike Josef (SPD) is the right man for the executive chair in the town hall.

Many say the head of the planning and sports department has integrity and, with his own biography, credibly depicts the opportunities for advancement that he wants to stand up for: from a refugee home to a candidate for mayor.

The meeting was organized by Paula Macedo-Weiß.

The author and cultural manager founded the "Initiative Mike Josef", which wants to bring the SPD politician to the mayor's office in the Römer.

She says she is confident in Josef's integrity, expertise and political intelligence.

He is also emotionally connected to the city.

"This is a very relevant aspect if you want to govern this city." The initiative is an informal and spontaneous group of people with different backgrounds, beliefs and party affiliations.

In the coming weeks, such meetings are to take place regularly, with different focal points.

On January 25th it will be about economy and finances, on February 24th the artist Tobias Rehberger will be a guest, who also belongs to the circle of supporters.

“A lot of people in this room are already there.

Others are still flirting with the idea,” says Macedo-Weiss.

Flirting is a good cue.

Josef grabs the microphone, quickly declares the meeting to be a dating night and starts things off: "My name is Mike Josef and I want to be mayor of this city." Personal data: 39 years old, married, two children, newcomers.

Josef was born in Syria in 1983.

After fleeing in 1988, his family spent the first few months in the refugee home before he managed to climb the ladder through secondary and junior high school, a technical diploma and university studies.

Josef praises the city's power of integration and, based on his own career, explains how advancement can be achieved through education.

He relies on a strong economy as a financial guarantor for social security and on the preservation of the "lively Frankfurt mix".

He wants to build bridges between those who want to expand Frankfurt and make it competitive and those who are skeptical about change and can hardly afford the city.

He promotes investments in culture and sport: "Every euro that I put into culture and sport saves two euros in the social budget."

Then the chatting begins.

Whether the Frankfurter's flirt with Mike Josef will lead to a permanent relationship will be seen on March 5th.

Because then there will be a choice.