Boris Palmer has moved into the town hall of Tübingen for the third time – as an independent candidate. After statements about refugees and Corona, the Greens wanted to exclude him. Now the party has to think about a new way of dealing with the election winner.
Cheering over his re-election: Tübingen’s Mayor Boris Palmer with his wife Magdalena Ruoffner (left) after winning the vote.
Successful local politician, angry citizen or racist – opinions about the mayor of Tübingen, Boris Palmer, have differed widely for years. He is considered to be the most pugnacious mayor in Germany. He regularly provokes with statements about refugees and Corona policy. Six months ago, the Greens would have liked to throw him out of the party.
Now Palmer, who ran as an independent candidate and whose party membership is suspended, managed to be re-elected mayor of Tübingen with an absolute majority (52.4 percent) – for the third time in a row. A result cannot be much clearer. The Greens candidate Ulrike Baumgärtner did not even get half of the votes with 22 percent. The SPD candidate Sofie Geisel achieved a similar result (21.4 percent).
The 50-year-old Palmer had bet on everything or nothing. If he is not re-elected, he will withdraw from politics, he had announced. Nevertheless, he was confident of victory in the election campaign – and almost a little reformed. In the past few months, Palmer has been surprisingly civil on social networks. Instead of starting national political disputes, he commented on local politics and promised barrier-free local transport in Tübingen, express cycle paths to the city center and more citizen participation.
Tübingen is to become a climate model city
Palmer wants to convert the university town, which has around 90,000 inhabitants, into a climate model town. There is a tax on disposable packaging, the parking fee for SUVs and other large cars has been increased from 30 to 180 euros a year. New residential quarters with small-scale development have emerged – this could also be a model for other cities. Palmer has big plans for the next eight years of his tenure.
For the Greens, the party rebel has long since become a burden. In 2015, in the middle of the refugee crisis, Palmer called for the EU’s external borders to be closed, if necessary with the use of weapons. “We can’t help everyone,” he countered on Facebook. In 2017 he campaigned for deportations to Afghanistan and compared the country’s security with that in Brazil. Another time, he was annoyed by Deutsche Bahn’s advertising, which featured mostly non-white passengers, mostly celebrities. “What society is this supposed to represent?” he grumbled publicly. The Greens resented his comment, others took it as a statement against woke symbolic politics in society.
In 2020, the camel’s statement on the corona protection measures was the last straw. This would protect people who would be dead in half a year anyway, Palmer said. The party would no longer support Palmer if he ran again, neither financially nor logistically, was the immediate reaction of then party leader Annalena Baerbock. Further sanctions would be examined. The Greens finally had enough of the one-man show from Tübingen.
Berlin Greens outraged by criticism of the capital
The Berliners in particular pushed for the enfant terrible to be expelled from the party, but this is a lengthy process. A glance at the Social Democrats is enough. Thilo Sarrazin’s party expulsion process lasted ten years because of his anti-Muslim theses.
The Berlin Greens resent Palmer’s constant criticism of politics in the capital from the Swabian provinces. Whenever he comes to Berlin, he thinks: “Be careful, you are leaving the functioning part of Germany,” he once said smugly, thereby opening the fight.
For Palmer himself there is no reason to return his party book. Now, after his third election victory in Tübingen, he has announced that he wants to approach the party again. On the evening of the election victory, Palmer said he had already spoken to Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann and Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck.
Palmer was once considered the great young talent of the Baden-Württemberg Greens, who could even inherit Prime Minister Kretschmann. In 2006, with an absolute majority in a mayoral election, he achieved what no Greens had ever achieved before. But Palmer has now lost it with the green national association due to his escapades. The list of his supporters is manageable. A federal political career is also out of the question at the moment.