Karin Geißler has left the Greens faction and is moving to the Brucker Bürgervereinigung (BBV) faction. The 61-year-old gives content and personal reasons. The proximity of the Greens to the CSU parliamentary group is too great for her. “I fought with myself for two years, I can’t take it anymore,” she said on Wednesday after informing the Greens parliamentary group and Mayor Erich Raff (CSU). Geißler was a member of the Greens parliamentary group for 26 years – and at times also of the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen party until the German military involvement in the Kosovo conflict in 1999. But she will remain “green, feminist and pacifist” in her attitude in the future and will advocate for issues such as the expansion of cycle paths.
The step does not come as a complete surprise. Since the beginning of the term of office, there have always been disagreements between Geißler and parliamentary group leader Jan Halbauer and second mayor Christian Stangl. Born in Görlitz, she recently made a very clear case for the construction of an ice rink, while Halbauer was cautious about the topic with regard to the city’s finances.
Geißler would also have preferred not to coordinate primarily with the CSU when choosing the deputy mayor. She herself was third mayor from 2014 to 2020, but her relationship with Raff was considered very cool. The fact that the Greens 2020 prevented the previous Vice Christian Götz from the BBV through the agreement with the CSU and the CSU accepted the CSU candidate Birgitta Klemenz as the third mayor in return for the election of the Green City Councilor Christian Stangl as the second mayor (whereby the BBV as the second strongest faction went empty-handed), Geißler still considers wrong to this day. During a conversation at the beginning of the week, the BBV gave her the impression of being very welcome, said Karin Geißler on Wednesday.
The Greens parliamentary group leaders Gina Merkl and Jan Halbauer express their regret in a statement, wish Geißler “all the best”, but also call on them to give up their mandate. “In a party and parliamentary group, decisions are made according to the democratic majority principle, unfortunately she wasn’t willing to make compromises here.”
It is not uncommon for councilors to switch factions. Gabriele Fröhlich switched from the Free Voters to the SPD in 2014 and Markus Droth and Peter Glockzin from the CSU to the Free Voters Group in 2019. Florian Weber turned his back on the BBV faction in 2017 and temporarily teamed up with Alexa Zierl, who left the Green faction in the same year. In 2014, Weber was elected to the city council for the party and Zierl switched to the ÖDP.