municipalities
Palmer’s appearance in Hungary – Uni speaks of confusion
The Mayor of Tübingen, Boris Palmer. photo
© Jan-Philipp Strobel/dpa
The planned appearance of the mayor of Tübingen in a controversial Hungarian collegium met with widespread criticism. Was his adviser just wrong? Boris Palmer is traveling anyway.
The planned appearance of Tübingen’s mayor According to the University of Tübingen, Boris Palmer at the Budapest Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) is based on a false recommendation from a professor.
Reinhard Johler, director of the Ludwig-Uhland Institute for Empirical Cultural Studies, advised the city administration on the trip at the end of 2022. The university announced on Wednesday that there had been a mix-up. The planned appearance has been criticized because the MCC is closely linked to the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
According to the university, Johler had assumed that the Corvinus University in Budapest was the destination of the trip, not the Mathias Corvinus Collegium. “A review of the mail traffic from December 2022 brought the misunderstanding to light. Corvinus University is an internationally renowned institution. Professor Johler, on the other hand, is extremely critical of the role of the MCC,” said a statement.
Palmer was surprised by the latest developments. The purpose of the university consultation was to make a well-founded decision on whether to accept or reject the invitation from the German-Hungarian Institute.
Too late to cancel?
“I would therefore have followed expert advice to decline the invitation immediately.” However, canceling participation just one week before the event is disproportionate. “The criticism of the organizer does not include the accusation of right-wing extremism, which would also make a cancellation necessary now. I think it is fundamentally right to seek dialogue with other political views in Europe that have a majority in Hungary or Poland.”
Palmer is scheduled to travel to Hungary from September 5th to 7th. One item on the program should be the lecture at the invitation of the German-Hungarian Institute, which belongs to the MCC. This is regarded as the training ground for the government of right-wing populist Orban. The educational institution and think tank imports, among other things, ideas from far-right journalists from the USA, whose writings it publishes in Hungarian translation.
Palmer has been mayor of Tübingen since 2007. With statements about refugee policy, he repeatedly caused controversy and was exposed to accusations of racism.