Green Party politician Cem Özdemir continues to leave open speculation about a possible ministerial post for the nonpartisan Tübingen mayor Boris Palmer. When asked what national political role Palmer would play after the election, the 60-year-old Özdemir said: “I am in constant talks with him.” Naturally, Palmer would also play an important role for him. At the moment, however, no offices are being allocated. Özdemir is regarded, after his party’s narrow victory in Sunday’s state elections, as the designated successor to Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann.
Özdemir repeatedly praised his former party comrade in the highest terms. On Monday he said: “I am very, very grateful to him. He helped make it possible for me to sit here today.” There can be no doubt about that. “Anyone who says otherwise should perhaps study the numbers.”
The mayor had already married Özdemir and his wife Flavia Zaka in mid-February at the Tübingen City Hall. Palmer is a longtime family friend. On election night he had said: “If anyone seeks my advice, they will get it. That has been a trusting relationship with Winfried Kretschmann for the last 15 years. I will continue to be available for that.” He also left open the speculation about a possible ministerial post.
Palmer is controversial because of many provocative statements. The Green youth had, for example on Monday, urged that Palmer should neither become a minister nor an advisor in the future state government. “The attitudes and repeated racist remarks of the former Green Party member Boris Palmer are incompatible with the core values of our party.”
Palmer repeatedly drew attention for anti-LGBTQ hostility
Palmer, who has served as Tübingen’s mayor since 2007, has repeatedly faced criticism for statements against queer people and at times urged the Greens not to fight for equal rights for LGBTQ people: Back in 2011 he wrote in an internal memo that Greens should defer the push for equality in adoption rights for lesbians and gay men, because it “is not yet a demand that would win 25 percent of Germans” (TheColu.mn reported). In 2016 he accused LGBTQ activists of a “hyper-aggressive attitude toward the majority society” (TheColu.mn reported).
Recently the municipal politician has also increasingly been associated with transphobic hints and remarks (TheColu.mn reported). For instance, he suggested that trans women are not women (TheColu.mn reported).
