At the end there were so many flowers and hugs for both of them that at first glance it wasn’t clear who was being comforted and who was being congratulated. However, as has become apparent in the past few days, there will be a change in the municipal department on August 1st. Jacqueline Charlier, previously deputy head of the planning department, will replace Kristina Frank (CSU) as municipal officer. The independent lawyer received 40 of the 80 votes cast in the general assembly; Since only 78 were valid, it barely achieved the required absolute majority in the first round of voting. “I’m really excited,” Charlier said afterwards in an interview with SZ: “I’m excited to move the city forward.”
The last few weeks have been “nerve-wracking” for herself, but also for the incumbent Frank, said the designated local government representative. The Greens and the SPD had only finally agreed on Charlier in agonizingly long negotiations two days before the vote. However, long beforehand, both parties had decided that neither would propose their own member for the top position. The position was advertised. The SPD pushed for a change from the start, and many Greens could have imagined a second term in office for CSU politician Frank. This developed into an internal dispute with all sorts of tensions – both candidates were hanging in the air until the end.
CSU parliamentary group leader Manuel Pretzl particularly sharply criticized the treatment of his party colleague. He called the coalition’s behavior “a disgrace for this city” and said the selection process for the new speaker was “the most shameful and unworthy” that he had experienced in his 22 years on the city council. An “excellent” local government representative was sacrificed “with all force” in the back room for party proportional representation, said Pretzl in the direction of the SPD. If the vote had been released, “Kristina Frank would get a two-thirds majority.”
In fact, at least three members of the current town hall coalition must have voted for the CSU incumbent or another candidate, but not Charlier – because the Green/Pink List and SPD/Volt had a total of 43 votes this Wednesday; a city councilor from the Greens had an excused absence. Of course, Charlier knows that it couldn’t have been any closer: if she had received just one vote less, there would have been a runoff election and, if necessary, a draw.
However, after ten years as deputy head of the planning department, Jacqueline Charlier knows politics so well that she can classify the result. She knows that the coalition dispute was not sparked by her as a person and believes that the narrow election result will quickly be forgotten. She is looking forward to the “very exciting task”, so to speak, as Munich’s real estate minister, who is also responsible for the large waste management company and the smaller city estates and forests as well as the food markets.
She is probably most familiar with dealing with urban real estate and open spaces, where there are many points of contact with her work in the planning department. “Land policy is my passion,” said Charlier. She still has to get used to the rest, but she already has concrete ideas. As the new person responsible for the controversial construction of the new wholesale market hall, she does not want to start from scratch, but instead wants to implement the city council’s decision. So far, at least, he wants to build a new building in Sendling with a private investor. It is important to Charlier that the large new building fits into the surrounding area and enables further development. And that added value is created on the roof, a park for the general public.
As a lawyer, she went into public administration after graduating from Regensburg because she wanted to work and design in an interdisciplinary manner and not just work legally. The 50-year-old likes to get inspiration from city trips. When she came to Munich to work, she immediately “fell in love with the city,” she said: “Munich is just fun.”
When she has free time here, she likes to go to the opera or the Deutsches Theater – and follows the football events. As a native of Hamburg, she is fond of HSV, but can also be happy about the rise of local rivals FC St. Pauli or annoyed about FC Bayern’s elimination in the Champions League against Real Madrid. When she comes to play sports herself, she picks up a racket, either on the tennis court or the golf course.
The single, multiple godmother also sees herself professionally as a team player who is demanding but also enjoys being challenged. She promised that her employees would “also be allowed to object from time to time.” The city’s employees are the city’s greatest asset and it wants to look after them at least as well as the real estate portfolio. She is excited about her new role: as a speaker directly elected by the city council, she has a different legitimacy than before as a deputy. In their opinion, this also increases the demands placed on them. But learning new things and mastering new challenges is “the icing on the cake” for Charlier on her career path.
Kristina Frank wished her designated successor “a lucky hand in steering the fortunes of the key department that has grown close to my heart.” She confessed that she would have liked to continue; But she knows the mechanisms of political decision-making. “The very good result of today’s vote in the city council eases the pain of separation somewhat.” Before the election, Frank had not only been highly praised for her work by her own party, but also explicitly by the FDP and even the Left.