Gestus big only to the outside
Palmer’s lawyer complains about green “unculture”
02/20/2022, 10:06 p.m
The Greens want to get rid of the Mayor of Tübingen, Boris Palmer. In an official response to the application for exclusion, his lawyer speaks of a “narrowed comfort corridor” for the Greens, which does not fit at all with the tradition of the Greens in Baden-Württemberg.
In the process of expelling Green politician Boris Palmer from the party, his lawyer Rezzo Schlauch accused the party of a “new non-culture of preventing discussions” and “decreed silence in the graveyard”. In his official response to the Baden-Württemberg state executive committee’s application for expulsion, the Greens, said Schlauch, appear to the outside world “with great gestures” as “the party of diversity” – internally, however, that is exactly what “is not practiced”, as in the Palmer case supporting documents. This is reported by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” in its Monday edition. The 55-page brief was received by the Greens’ state arbitration court on Friday and is available to the SZ. The oral hearing in the proceedings is to take place after Easter.
Palmer, argues the former leader of the Bundestag parliamentary group, hose, is “undoubtedly an uncomfortable democrat” and has contributed to an “emotional atmosphere”. But he has not harmed the Greens, but is rather “an extraordinary asset” for the party.
Due to Mayor Palmer’s “restless initiatives”, Tübingen has “always been a pioneering city for green issues” such as climate protection and mobility and has developed “solutions” that were later found in the green party program. Tübingen was the first city to introduce a solar obligation for new buildings. The merits of Palmer’s “green agenda” in the assessment of his person “completely disregarded”, so hose, is “politically and legally a gross misstep” by the authors of the application for exclusion. In this respect, it was “completely unfounded”.
Hose: Palmer’s contentiousness is part of the ‘DNA of the party’
In a historical digression, hose asserts that the Greens in Baden-Württemberg in particular have had “the broadest conceivable spectrum” of members since they were founded. The principle of “unity in diversity” has contributed significantly to the success of the party. This diversity, said hose, “cannot be reduced to a conflict-free corridor of convenience or restricted by majority vote,” as it is now. The “passion for discussion and argumentativeness” that Palmer exudes is part of the “DNA of the party”.
The great damage that Palmer inflicted on the Greens, according to the state executive, cannot exist because almost all of the party’s election results in the city have steadily improved since he took office as mayor of Tübingen. Just recently, 69 percent of citizens in a Forsa survey expressed their satisfaction with the work of the OB. Palmer wants to run as an independent candidate in the Tübingen mayoral election in the fall.