The politically stricken Mayor of Frankfurt, Peter Feldmann, wants to get his resignation on the way next week – but only for a good six months. Why not right away?
Frankfurt/Main (dpa/lhe) – Frankfurt’s mayor, Peter Feldmann (SPD), who has been accused of corruption, intends to submit his announced resignation next week. Feldmann said on Friday that he would officially resign his term of office on January 31, 2023.
“It gives even the biggest skeptics the assurance that I can really be trusted and that I’m really serious,” he said. However, the mayor continued to reject the immediate resignation demanded by the political opponent. He wanted to “hand over an orderly house”, the 63-year-old confirmed his decision.
However, the city councilors still have to approve the application for retirement under paragraph 76a of the Hessian Municipal Code (HGO) for special reasons. Only then is he legally secure. When this will be was initially unclear. An alliance of Greens, SPD, FDP and Volt governs in Frankfurt’s Römer.
The simultaneous deselection procedure (paragraph 76, paragraph 4), which is currently being carried out against the 63-year-old, is independent of the application. “The factions still have the right to vote me out next week,” he said. He will also accept a possible deselection on January 31st. A corresponding letter has been signed and will be deposited with a notary next week.
But why only in a good six months? Feldmann left that open. The date has crystallized. He did not consider his own financial decisions. “I didn’t even calculate whether the six months in the pension make any difference at all,” said Feldmann.
Hesse’s Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) reacted with relief to the announced resignation. “It’s good that he has finally announced his resignation,” Rhein told the “Wiesbadener Kurier” (Friday). “Frankfurt deserves far better political leadership.”
“I have no glee, just great pity for my hometown,” said the head of government. As the largest financial center in continental Europe and as the largest transport hub in Hesse, Frankfurt is such an economically and financially important city that “the political situation it is in must be of concern to you”.
On Tuesday, the mayor, accused of taking advantage, announced his resignation. “I would like to save the city of Frankfurt an agonizing and expensive vote-out procedure – and take the opportunity to bring my official business to a proper conclusion after more than ten years,” it said in a statement.
The trial against Feldmann begins on October 18 at the Frankfurt Regional Court. His wife, as the head of a daycare center run by the Frankfurt Workers’ Welfare Association (AWO), is said to have received a salary that exceeded the collective agreement “for no objective reason”. In addition, according to the public prosecutor’s office, the AWO is said to have supported Feldmann in the 2018 election campaign by raising donations. Feldmann continues to deny the allegations.
The SPD politician was first elected mayor of the largest city in Hesse in 2012 and was confirmed in office for another six years in 2018. He did not provide any information about his professional future. He currently has no new job for the period after January 31st.
