After embarrassments at the Eintracht Frankfurt cup celebration and a derogatory statement about flight attendants, his own party is also demanding the resignation of Frankfurt Mayor Feldmann. The SPD is thus following its coalition partners in Römer.
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Video shows new slip by Mayor Peter Feldmann
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After the recent controversial behavior of Frankfurt’s Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann, his own party, the local SPD, has now called for his resignation. That requires the dignity of the office, the reputation of the city and the ability of the magistrate to act, said deputy party leader Kolja Müller on Monday.
“The sexist statement made by the mayor on the flight to Seville is not a trivial offence, but a blunder that must be condemned,” said Müller. The behavior is one of a number of other mistakes.
After the mayor was charged with suspected corruption in connection with the AWO affair, the SPD initially stated that he would have to resign from office if the main proceedings were to be allowed. Waiting any longer is now unreasonable, it said. The Greens, CDU, FDP and Volt had previously spoken out in favor of resigning.
Greens: “Unable to exercise office”
The mayor did not hold back from public appearances, as he announced after the indictment against him in the AWO affair. He is still helping to clarify the affair, criticized the Frankfurt Greens on Monday in their call for Feldmann’s resignation. “Instead, his behavior has reached a new low, with which he deeply shames the city and local politics,” wrote the party leadership. Feldmann was “obviously not in a position to exercise his office”.
“Should this appeal also go unheard, we will discuss further steps together with the coalition parties, up to and including a vote-out procedure,” the Greens said in a statement.
Volt: Feldmann does not reflect on his behavior
The Greens form a coalition in Römer with the SPD, FDP and Volt. A demand for resignation came from the smallest of the alliance parties on Monday. Sexist statements like Feldmann’s on the plane to Seville are “not a trivial offense, but should be condemned loudly and clearly,” emphasized Volt parliamentary group leader Martin Huber and the party’s women’s spokeswoman, Britta Wollkopf.
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No more support in Romans: SPD also calls for Feldmann’s resignation
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The fact that the mayor traveled to Davos for the World Economic Forum proves once again “that Mr. Feldmann does not reflect on his behavior, but continues to see himself as the ‘sun’ around which everyone else circles,” the Volt politicians continued. After the indictment against Feldmann, the Europa-Party had already demanded that Frankfurt’s mayor resign from office because of possible advantages in office.
“Hormonally Incapacitated”
A video appeared on the Internet at the weekend in which Feldmann spoke of flight attendants on the flight to the Eintracht final in Seville, “who put me out of action hormonally at first”. Feldmann also caused irritation at the cup celebration in the Römer last Thursday. There he first took the trophy from Eintracht captain Sebastian Rode and coach Oliver Glasner in order to advance towards the Kaisersaal. And during his speech, the mayor, who describes himself as a Eintracht fan, mispronounced several of the players’ names.
Feldmann himself regretted his appearance at the party, and he later apologized for his saying on the plane. One of his spokesmen announced on Monday that Feldmann would comment on the demands for his resignation in the coming days. The 63-year-old has been in the executive chair in Frankfurt City Hall since 2012.
In March, the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office brought charges against him in the AWO affair because of sufficient suspicion of accepting an advantage. Feldmann’s wife, as the head of an AWO daycare center, is said to have received a salary that was higher than the collective agreement “for no objective reason”. In addition, the Arbeiterwohlfahrt supported Feldmann in the 2018 election campaign by raising donations. In return, he wanted to “benevolently consider” the interests of AWO Frankfurt.
Eintracht no longer wants to see Feldmann in the stadium
Even in Frankfurt’s Waldstadion at Eintracht, Feldmann is no longer welcome after his role in the Europa League celebrations, where he arbitrarily seized the winner’s trophy, among other things. “We really can’t imagine welcoming him to our games with a clear conscience,” said Eintracht board member Axel Hellmann in hr-heimspiel! on Monday evening. “I find it shameful,” Hellmann commented on the Mayor’s appearance: “Vanity and narcissism are the terms that come to mind.”
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