The Greens parliamentary group leader in the city council, Anna Hanusch, withdraws her application for the office of building officer. She announced this on Friday afternoon. “It is with great regret that I declare my renunciation of further participation in the process for filling this office,” it said in a written statement. The election planned for next Wednesday’s plenary session had previously fallen through because the government of Upper Bavaria, as the responsible supervisory authority, is calling for an advertisement for the top municipal post.
There hadn’t been one, the Greens had nominated Hanusch as the only candidate. They had this right guaranteed in the coalition agreement, the election was considered safe with the votes of the SPD. However, the CSU had raised serious doubts about Hanusch’s formal qualifications and turned on the government of Upper Bavaria as the supervisory authority.
The coalition now has to accept that one of its most prominent faces cannot switch to the speakers’ bench. But the Greens and Social Democrats do not want to see a precedent in this. After the meeting of the Council of Elders, where basic processes among the parliamentary groups are discussed, the election of two other candidates remains on the agenda, who are also to be put into office without an advertisement. Hanna Sammüller-Gradl (Greens) is to be chosen as the new district administration officer, Andreas Mickisch (SPD) as the personnel officer. After the vote by the government of Upper Bavaria in the Causa Hanusch, Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) sees no reason to cancel these elections as well, as he announced on Friday. They are “legally compliant”.
The CSU also wants to examine the other speaker elections
However, the CSU also has doubts about this attitude. “We will examine it legally,” announced parliamentary group leader Manuel Pretzl. The ÖDP wants to prevent the election of the two speakers without a call for proposals next Wednesday with an emergency motion. Mayor Reiter must also demand a binding procedure from the government of Upper Bavaria for future appointments to the top departments, said parliamentary group leader Tobias Ruff. In addition, the ÖDP wants to have it checked whether the contracts of speakers who have already been elected are legally binding if they came into office without a call for tenders.
In the case of the candidate Hanusch, the government of Upper Bavaria had stated that the city could only refrain from advertising a post as a consultant in exceptional cases, for example if a consultant was re-elected or a deputy took over the office of a retiring boss. The principle of selecting the best applies. Should the government of Upper Bavaria now consistently demand and enforce this legal opinion, the respective town hall government would have to adapt to this when choosing the speakers. CSU faction leader Pretzl sees “a paradigm shift” that will keep city politics busy for a long time.
Green co-group leader Roth said that the previous practice had made political sense. “But if we’re forced, we’ll just make pseudo tenders.” The city chairman of the Greens, Joel Keilhauer, accused the CSU of a political intrigue. “It seems as if the CSU is trying to boycott majority decisions in Munich City Hall with the support of an authority that is part of a CSU-led ministry.” The SPD did not want to comment on Friday.
The small factions see their criticism of the mode confirmed
The small factions in the town hall, which always vehemently but without effect condemned the election of speakers without announcing, see themselves confirmed. The party book was almost always more important than the law book and the quality of the applicants, said ÖDP city councilor Ruff. However, the fact that the CSU discovered its opposition soul at the very moment when it “can no longer accommodate its amigos is laughable and grotesque.” Stefan Jagel, chairman of the Left/The Party, also pointed out that his parliamentary group had always called for tenders. However, the FDP/Bavarian Party faction has little hope that a tender would change much. In any case, the candidate that the coalition would have wanted even without this procedure would always prevail there. Good external candidates would therefore not apply in such a “farce”, said City Councilor Richard Progl (Bavarian Party).
Green party leader Hanusch has taken the logical consequence not to go the route of an invitation to tender. The government of Upper Bavaria did not deny her eligibility, but did not confirm it with the necessary certainty, said Hanusch. “This legal opinion creates a situation in which my participation in a tender could result in further delays in filling the head of the building department.” However, she wants to avoid a lengthy procedure, “since this can have a negative impact on the achievement of the ambitious goals of our green-red town hall coalition”. It was still unclear on Friday whether she would maintain her previously announced withdrawal from the leadership of the parliamentary group.
Goes to Stuttgart in the summer: Thomas Bönig.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
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The Greens now have to think about two speaker posts for which they have the right to propose. Because the city’s head of IT, Thomas Bönig, came to Stuttgart at short notice in the summer and came as a complete surprise to the public in the middle of the planned digitization offensive. There he takes on a similar task. As can be heard in the town hall, the Greens are said to have already signaled to the IT officer that his contract, which expires in 2024, cannot be extended.
However, the coalition seems to have been surprised by the timing of the farewell. The formalities must now be clarified, said Bönig. He had been in contact with those responsible in Stuttgart for a long time, and they had offered him a “very interesting” job in his hometown, says Bönig. However, he does not want to deny that he lacked appreciation for his work in Munich.
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