It was a sensation in the local elections three years ago: After almost five decades of CSU regency in Ingolstadt town hall, Christian Scharpf from the SPD became the new mayor. Apparently out of nowhere, as city director in Munich City Hall he was a local politics professional, but clearly started with outsider opportunities. In the end, the 52-year-old benefited from a corruption scandal in Ingolstadt and promised a new style away from “cliques” – even if the CSU incumbent Christian Lösel, against whom he won in the runoff election, was not himself involved in justiciables. Scharpf can’t govern thoroughly: the city council is fragmented with eleven parties, his SPD only got 17.5 percent, there is no coalition. how does it work Time for a mid-term review of the term.
SZ: Mr. Scharpf, how is the reputation of the city of Ingolstadt looking just before your half-time as mayor?
Christian Scharpf: Very good, but that’s not necessarily my fault, it’s because the city is very well positioned overall.
When you started, the city had a lot behind it. A convicted old mayor, a real estate gang, a nepotism affair at the hospital.
That was of course a turning point back then. But that is closed and processed by the judiciary. And the citizens gave the corresponding answer in the 2020 election. That was my slogan: “Time for a new political beginning”.
Was it seamlessly possible for the citizens to trust their city leaders again?
I think so, because I took a completely different approach. I wanted to get away from this political bloc thinking. It was the case that the CSU and Freie Wahler pushed through their government policies in a tough manner. It was a matter of style. The opposition at the time spoke of power arrogance, and many felt the same way. I wanted to work with all parties and no application should be denied simply because it was made by the “wrong” party. That wasn’t easy, even for those who were previously in the opposition. Some said, well, now we’ve won, now let’s show them. And I said no, that’s exactly what we’re not doing. Otherwise we do it just like the others. It paid off, trust was built up in the city council.
Also with the citizens of Ingolstadt? Did you have to convince them that “they up there” aren’t all the same?
I wasn’t part of the city’s political establishment, I came from outside. Nobody knew me, which was really an advantage in this case. At that time, the political opponent said, “the import from Munich”, so disparagingly. That’s exactly why people chose me. On the one hand, there was the previous government, which had failed, and on the other hand, there was a presentable alternative.
Does anyone still call you “import from Munich”?
It keeps coming from the unwelcome. I was born and grew up in Ingolstadt, which is my hometown. Munich is my second home, where I lived for a long time. My wife works in Munich and still lives there with the children. We have a house in Ingolstadt and an apartment in Munich. Everyone comes together in Ingolstadt at the weekend and during the holidays.
What image does Bavaria’s fifth largest city carry to the republic and to the world?
Our big plus is the high quality of life, it is a decelerated city. We have a unique selling proposition, we are, to put it bluntly, a city of single-family homes, less urban, but with a lot of greenery, with a lot of leisure and quality of stay. This has historical reasons, because of the military one was not allowed to build suburbs, so the Wilhelminian period passed us by almost completely in the 19th century. We only grew very strongly after the Second World War, of course also with denser neighborhoods from the 1960s, such as the Pius Quarter.
Some also say a bland big city. You yourself once said that Ingolstadt has a non-image.
Ingolstadt is much better than its reputation. Some used to scoff, this is the city you drive past on the A9. But when you talk to people who have been there, they are totally surprised at how nice it is here. But Ingolstadt is less well known. That’s why we hired a city marketing manager and thought about exactly that. How do we actually see each other? Where are our pounds? It’s a green city, it’s a family-friendly city, it’s an economically strong city where you can also earn good money.
Is economic power the essence of Ingolstadt’s brand?
We are shaped by the automobile, no question, we are in the middle of a transformation as far as that is concerned. In digitization, in autonomous driving, we are the AI hub of the Bavarian high-tech agenda. We are already testing how this works in practice. Now the software developers from Cariad are coming in, we have 60 hectares on the IN campus that we are developing for high-tech companies. We conducted a survey among our companies, which revealed that 700 companies wanted to hire a total of 4,000 people immediately. But they can only do so in part because there is a lack of skilled workers. You can see the power in there.
Just not in terms of culture.
This is a sore point. Ingolstadt is already a cultural city, but that (the rejection of a new theater building by referendum, editor’s note.) was a setback, we don’t need to talk about that.
What has happened there?
The Stadttheater has a long tradition with us, we have an occupancy rate of 80, 90 percent, but it needs to be renovated. That doesn’t work in stock, I have to empty the thing. Then the previous administration made the suggestion that we build an alternative venue, which will then remain as a new small house. I thought the idea was good and right. It was a pity that it didn’t work out. A lot of people weren’t interested at all, only a small political bubble was able to mobilize, which was very populist. “Children on the street, theater in the palace,” such nasty slogans were used.
What’s next?
We are currently in the process of examining the former department store in Ludwigsstraße, which has been empty since 2020, as an alternative quarter. Or the Baur Tower, which is an old fortress building on the southern bank of the Danube, you could cover the inner courtyard, that could also be great. So far, this has been positively received in the city society. This also has something to do with sustainability, which is of course the right approach politically: We don’t build concrete on a greenfield site, but take stock that already exists and reuse it.
There was a time when the term “bunch of idiots” circulated about the city council, is the climate better now?
The climate is good, I listen to everyone. We just bought back shares in Stadtwerke, that was an important decision. I spoke to all the parliamentary group leaders in advance and then there is no showdown in one session, but it is well prepared and everyone feels involved and valued.
Isn’t it a disadvantage for you that you don’t have your own majority?
I don’t think so. But I wouldn’t recommend that as a panacea for every city and for every constellation. It fits here, especially because of the background. Otherwise I wouldn’t be credible, I wanted a fresh political start.
During the election campaign you spoke of “cliques in the city establishment”. Are they capped now?
The political stage in Ingolstadt is clear. People know each other here and if a party has been at the helm for almost 50 years, then that just solidifies. Then some are allowed to play along and others are not allowed to play along. I’m not that type.
Can everyone play now?
Yes, as mayor I am there for everyone. I don’t make city politics dependent on whether someone criticizes me or does me good. I try to be an honest broker in city politics. It would have been my biggest mistake to say that the CSU, for example, is no longer allowed to play. Such a political approach is completely foreign to me.
You worked in Munich for a long time, is there anything that you learned from?
There are hardly two big cities that are more different than Munich and Ingolstadt. Munich is very urban and also feels more metropolitan. Ingolstadt is more down-to-earth. A small town that has grown, some say a big city that has remained small. It’s not positive or negative at all, it’s just the way it is. We only surpassed the 100,000 mark in 1989 and now we have 142,000 inhabitants from 140 nations, which is a gigantic development in a short time. Sooner or later there will also be changes in city politics, in the way of thinking.
Conversely, are there things from Munich that you do not want in Ingolstadt?
These exorbitant rent increases in Munich are severe, but the city’s politicians can’t help it, and they’re making full use of all the options they have to counteract them. Munich is getting fuller. It used to be chilled in very densely built-up areas like Schwabing. Now the atmosphere is sometimes more irritable, inner courtyards are being built over, attics are being built out, it’s enormous how densification is increasing. Now Apple and Google are also expanding. And everyone has to live, want to park somewhere or use public transport. In Ingolstadt we don’t have it that sharp.
And with your colleagues from state politics? As a successful local politician, how do you see the suffering of the Bavarian SPD?
hmm (is silent for a long time). Difficult. There were times in the 90s, Renate Schmidt, 30 percent. Now under ten, that’s bitter. But there is still room for improvement, because the Bavarian SPD is addressing many issues correctly, while the state government has made many mistakes, such as the sale of tens of thousands of affordable apartments from the state-owned GBW AG, the omissions in the power lines or the S-Bahn – Disaster in Munich. I would like to see the Bayern SPD back in second place.
Otherwise no ambitions?
No, I am a local politician through and through. It is perhaps the fate of the Bavarian SPD that after the Second World War they often thought they had to be particularly left-wing. Of course that’s difficult in a conservative country like Bavaria. It used to be the other way around: during the monarchy and under Erhard Auer, the Reich SPD was more left-wing and the Bavarian SPD were the so-called Royal Bavarian Social Democrats because they were pragmatic and not ideological. The many municipalities in which the SPD governs show that things can be done differently. Socialists can also be successful in rural areas or in conservative cities like Ingolstadt.