analysis
Tübingen Mayor Palmer was long considered a political talent by the Greens. But over the years he became more and more of a provocateur. Now he has overstepped the mark. How could it come to this?
That Boris Palmer would have a career with the Greens was by no means certain when he was young. When he was just two years in the state parliament, he said that SWR: “It took me a long time to join a political party, because I got this urge for freedom from my father – if not inherited, then I took it on.” The father, known by the nickname “Remstal Rebel”, had been politically active all his life as a lone fighter.
The son tried it with the Greens – climate protection was the connecting element – and was elected to the Baden-Württemberg state parliament in 2001, shortly after his teacher training course. The intelligent young politician was well received by the voters. In 2006, at the age of only 34, he won the election for mayor of Tübingen for the first time. Two more election victories in 2014 and 2022 were to follow.
Nationwide, Palmer made a name for himself in the arbitration proceedings surrounding the “Stuttgart 21” railway project as an astute opponent of the project. For a long time, the office of prime minister seemed attainable.
Successful politics in Tübingen
“He does good politics,” was the common response from Tübingen when someone from outside asked why he was repeatedly elected there. This can be seen in the numerous companies that have settled in Tübingen and the increasing trade tax revenue. But also on climate protection: The city is to become climate-neutral by 2030, the municipal council decided in November 2020 under Palmer and passed a comprehensive climate protection package.
In the corona pandemic, Palmer also broke new ground. As part of a model project, retail and gastronomy were able to reopen for those who tested negative.
Provocations on the assembly line
But with his style, Palmer always offended. Even during his first term as mayor of Tübingen, he angered the municipal council because he kept distributing municipal council documents on Facebook and putting them up for discussion even before the municipal councils had voted on them. Over the years, Palmer excitement became part of everyday political life in Tübingen and Baden-Württemberg.
From 2015 he worked on dealing with refugees. He, the local politician, called for an upper limit for refugees, saying that their accommodation could not be guaranteed. In 2016, the Tübingen resident countered Merkel’s famous sentence “We can do it” with a defiant “We can’t do it”. He had previously called for violent young refugees to be deported to Syria. Positions with which he made no friends, especially in the left wing of the state Greens.
In the media, on the other hand, it was: The Greens with the anti-Green positions became a welcome guest on the talk show: the programmed provocation.
Playing with racist stereotypes
When he wasn’t on a talk show, Palmer used social media to ignite racist stereotypes. Like in April 2018, when he commented on a black cyclist who, according to Palmer, almost knocked him over: “That’s not appropriate for anyone and for an asylum seeker already three times.”
Whether this cyclist was an asylum seeker or not, Palmer could not know. According to criticism from Palmer’s party, he deduced his residence status from the color of his skin. The mayor later apologized for the “communication disaster”.
In January 2019, it was all about concrete political action. The mayor of Tübingen confirmed that SWR, the city keeps a list of “conspicuous asylum seekers” who have attracted attention due to violent or drug-related offences. Palmer probably wanted to accommodate these people in a separate accommodation. According to the mayor’s reasoning, foreigners are more likely to be criminals. Because the list was not legal in the opinion of the state data protection officer, it was discontinued.
Kretschmann thinks, Palmer speaks
With his idea, however, Palmer was not very far from the world of ideas of Winfried Kretschmann: In 2018, for example, the Green Prime Minister wanted to send delinquent young refugees alias “hordes of men” “to the Pampa”. And after the “Stuttgarter riot night” – in which young people rioted in the city center – the Prime Minister was particularly interested in the origin of the suspects.
It can be assumed that Palmer often said what Kretschmann and other Realo Greens preferred to think. They were always loyal to him when things got tight for Palmer.
In 2020, the state executive suggested that he leave the party for the first time. The occasion: an interview on SAT.1 breakfast television. To protect older people from Corona, Palmer said there: “In Germany we may save people who would be dead in six months anyway.” Palmer didn’t step out, but he was battered.
scandal about the n-word
Then there was a new scandal in the 2021 federal election campaign: Palmer used the N-word on Facebook – i.e. a racist term – in combination with a vulgar term, referring to the black former soccer player Dennis Aogo. The then chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock tweeted that he had lost the support of the party. Palmer himself said he used the word satirically. Nevertheless, the state party conference decided on a party expulsion procedure.
But Palmer’s friend Rezzo Schlauch came to his aid and represented him as a lawyer before the party’s state arbitration court. There was no exclusion, instead a settlement was agreed: Palmer had to give up his party membership until the end of 2023. Until then, it was said, one wanted to think about “how the respondent could express controversial opinions within the party in the future, taking into account the principles and order of the party”.
In plain language: How to get Palmer to rabble less publicly and simply make good politics again. The Greens have obviously not found an answer to this question. After an indisputable comparison with the Star of David, Palmer made up his own mind to leave, which probably prevented him from being thrown out. Higher political orders are thus finally closed to him. And whether he can remain mayor of Tübingen after his time off remains to be seen.