Uwe Brandl is the mayor’s speaker. A conversation about the risky asylum plans of his CSU colleague Markus Söder, haphazard hospital policy – and his doubts about whether the Free State can still afford small school classes and daycare groups.
It is a rare occurrence for CSU politicians to publicly attack the party leader. Uwe Brandl, 64, is an exception. He is the president of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, president of the Bavarian Association of Municipalities – and thus the spokesperson for the municipalities. Recently he has interpreted this role particularly vividly. The plans to reduce bureaucracy by the Prime Minister and CSU leader? Brandl called them “failed” and “completely out of date” in an open letter to Markus Söder. Söder’s plans to accommodate more asylum seekers in cities? “That doesn’t help us,” ranted Brandl. In an interview, the former mayor of Abensberg explains what annoys local politicians about hospital planning in Munich and Berlin. He explains why more and more mayors are quitting. And he outlines a way out of the financial crisis facing municipalities.