municipalities
The New Palmer: Lots of Gray and a Bible Quote
“It was good the way it was”: Boris Palmer. photo
© Bernd Weißbrod/dpa
After a month’s break, Tübingen’s Lord Mayor Palmer is back in the town hall. He keeps what he learned during his time-out to himself, and answers questions with a quotation from the Bible. an encounter.
A lot has accumulated in the past four weeks: On the desk of Boris Palmer has a large stack of files in his office on the second floor of the historic town hall in Tübingen, and his e-mail inbox is also full. The mayor, who is now independent, is standing at his desk with the best view of the Tübingen weekly market and is working through the documents, such as important proposals for the municipal council. “They have to go to press,” says Palmer.
After a four-week break, Palmer is now back at Tübingen City Hall. The mayor of the city of 90,000 took a four-week break on June 1 – after a scandal surrounding Palmer’s statements on the sidelines of a migration conference in Frankfurt am Main at the end of April. After the escalation of his controversial statements, he also left the Greens.
Is a new Palmer returning to City Hall?
He admits that he didn’t really miss the work at City Hall during his absence. “I’ve always liked going into business, but I can do without,” he told the German Press Agency on Friday in Tübingen. And now? Will a new Palmer return to City Hall after the four weeks? At least externally, the 51-year-old has changed only slightly. He, who used to wear a green or bright blue jacket, wears a dark suit, a gray shirt and a gray striped tie. The gray hair is neatly styled, the full beard a little longer than before the break.
He answers questions with just a few words, before he thinks about it for a moment. It seems as if he has been fine-tuning his public appearance during his time off and has imposed restraint on himself. Because it was his always short-tempered and spontaneous nature that ultimately cost him his membership in the Greens and also led to his time off.
Use of the “N-Word”
On the fringes of the event in Frankfurt at the end of April, his reaction was anything but controlled: he had an argument with a protest group about his use of the “N-word”, a racist term for black people that used to be common in Germany. The protesters confronted him with shouts of “Nazis out”. He then said, “It’s nothing but the Star of David. That’s because I used a word that you attach everything else to. If you say the wrong word, you’re a Nazi.”
During the break, as he had previously announced, he wanted to “try to work through my part in these increasingly destructive entanglements”. So was the break worth it? Did he learn something for himself? Palmer is extremely taciturn about this. “It was fine the way it was.” He does not want to give any details, such as concrete results. And then he gives an extremely unusual answer: “I’ll answer you with a quote from the Bible: Matthew 7:16,” says Palmer. It says: “By their fruits you will know them”.
Palmer and the social media
He becomes more specific when dealing with social media, more precisely his Facebook profile. There he announced on Thursday evening that he wanted to limit the comment function – also to protect himself. “You always think you’re not letting it get to you, but it does affect you if you’re constantly absorbing negative energy there,” he says. From now on, only friends of Palmer can comment on his posts on Facebook. So far it’s going well.
In the evening, the people of Tübingen can see for themselves whether their mayor has changed or whether the old one has stayed. The Mayor made one of his first public appearances at the Tübingen Summer Festival. He rides the Ferris wheel, gets into a bumper car with a teenager and throws rings at small stuffed animals – always surrounded by several camera teams and reporters. “As if the Chancellor were here,” he later joked before tapping the barrel.
He only mentions his time off very briefly. Yes, he says, he’s back now: “It wasn’t bad either. Everything’s fine again.” Then he thanks the organizers, the showmen and of course the donor of the beer keg – everyday life for a mayor. And after the scandals and the break, everyday life for Palmer is back. He only needs two hits to tap the barrel, and he’s also experienced there. “This is definitely my 50th beer keg,” he says.