The city council wants to end the self-imposed, extensive political lockdown at the end of January. The technical committees should meet regularly in presence from February onwards, with spaces between the chairs and probably also a mask requirement. The debate on the 2022 budget, which was postponed to January 19, shows that it will take place with the full cast. The idea of only presenting the speeches on the distribution of city money this year in writing also seems to have been off the table. The final decision on how to proceed will be made by the council of elders on Friday.
The city councilors had put themselves into lockdown when the corona warning app hit numerous visitors after the general assembly on November 25 last year. The parliamentary groups then agreed to cancel all committees and to hold the full assembly in December with half the cast. The budget debate, considered one of the highlights of the political year, was postponed to January.
In order not to let the political work completely fall asleep, the specialist politicians are currently meeting in digital meetings, in which they are not allowed to make decisions for legal reasons. The introduction of hybrid meetings, which would have made this possible, failed due to resistance from the opposition.
“Democracy lives from presence.”
The return to normalcy to a large extent is also easy for many because the excitement in November turned out to be a bit excessive in retrospect. Only three corona cases became known, of which it is not even known whether they were infected in the meeting. After a meeting between the parliamentary group chairman and Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) on Monday morning, it was clear that the committees should meet again from February onwards.
As far as the General Assembly on January 19 is concerned, the Greens are, as before, cautious. They would also have advocated a limited discussion of the budget. The SPD does not currently consider this possibility likely and can live with it. “This is one of the most important debates of the year,” says parliamentary group leader Anne Huebner.
The CSU and small parliamentary groups like Die Linke / Die Party or FDP / Bayernpartei definitely want to discuss the finances for 2022 in a personal discussion and with enough time. The CSU would be won over in the council of elders for a reduced occupation, said parliamentary group leader Manuel Pretzl. But small groups do not want that. “Democracy lives from presence,” said FDP spokesman Jörg Hoffmann. The left is also pushing for a full occupation while adhering to strict hygiene rules.
Their parliamentary group leader, Stefan Jagel, can imagine talking again about the introduction of hybrid meetings. Anna Hanusch, leader of the Greens parliamentary group, also says that there have been “strong appeals to the CSU” as to whether there might be a compromise solution for “slimmed-down hybrid meetings”. The votes of the CSU are necessary for the required two-thirds majority. The parliamentary group leader Pretzl announced that they would like to discuss it again this week.