The political national trend always plays a role in local elections, says member of the bundestag manuela rottmann. The district council candidate from B’90/die grunen/burger fur umwelt therefore reckons she has a good chance of being elected at district level. She believes that the best result to date of around 20 percent, achieved in 2008 by district council candidate norbert schmahling for B’90/die grunen/odp, can be topped. “We will get more than 20 percent this time.”
It’s “exciting to see”, how the people in the region judge the policies of the incumbent, whether they confirm them through their vote or formulate new needs of their own, the 47-year-old says. The fact that there is a kind of new spirit not only within the party, but also among the burgers, can be seen from the fact that there are numerous people in the district who have suddenly felt like joining the grunen. Recently there are lists of candidates of B’90/die grunen for the local elections in bad bruckenau, munnerstadt, bad bocklet and mabbach. “It would have been possible to do even more, but we have reached the limits of our capacity in terms of preparations.” The fact that B’90/die grunen is in the ascendancy in the district is also proven by the number of members, says rottmann. While there were 45 members in 2017, there are now over 90. “And we’ll break the 100 mark, too.”
Rottmann sees the fact that the citizens of burgenland have three candidates to choose from in the county council election as positive. She does not know thomas menz that well. She appreciates that thomas bold is “present and hardworking” is. She herself decided to run for office at the district level because the work on the local political stage is “more varied and more direct” the member of the bundestag says.
In her work in berlin, it is important to her that decisions in parliament are also practicable for municipalities. As a decision-maker in berlin, you always have to ask yourself whether cities and municipalities can implement what has been decided, rottmann continues. “Municipal politics is, so to speak, the serious case of federal politics.” The federal government cannot regulate everything. When it comes to the construction of photovoltaic plants, for example, cities and municipalities had to have their own room for maneuver when planning and building them.
Her political commitment is for her “work of conviction”, says rottmann. “I am a total workaholic. But I am working on saying no, she says and laughs.
In general, she says, she is a person who needs stability in order to cope with tasks calmly. And yet, she says, there are times when she worries, like recently with the events in the thuringian state parliament. Where will this lead, they often ask themselves?.
“But you can’t just complain, you have to act”, is the recipe against such pessimism. This also applies to local politics. Of course, in the past there were “golden times”. Today, we have to deal with issues such as population decline, rural exodus and shortage of doctors. In your opinion, however, something can be rebuilt in the district “because we have our own path to the future here”.
For rottmann, the two most important issues in the past six years in the district that have not been satisfactorily resolved are the closure of the obstetrics ward at the bad kissingen hospital and a local transportation plan that does not include the linking of buses with trains. As far as the opnv was concerned, the journeys often took far too long. “And if you want to take the bus from hammelburg to bad bruckenau, you first have to go to bad kissingen.”
In general, the citizens must be heard before such decisions are made, and “space must be created for debate. Rottmann cites the planned school center in hammelburg as an example. Local people also had to be able to understand the advantages and disadvantages of relocating schools to the outskirts of the town.
In the 47-year-old’s opinion, the county must ensure that “sustainable action and construction” are the order of the day become. As an example, she cites the gradual privatization of county hospitals. This is understandable in view of the annual deficits previously incurred by the district. However, there have been consequences, such as the loss of the obstetrics ward, the migration of midwives and the lack of notaries.
Isolde krapf
Three questions for manuela rottmann
How do you see your chances in the 2020 municipal elections?? Do you think you’ll have to go to the polls – and if so, with whom??
Manuela rottmann : of course i hope to get into the runoff – and then with incumbent thomas bold.
Name two projects that you will immediately take up in your first term as district administrator?
On the one hand, we must ensure that the energy supply in the district of bad kissingen is completely converted to renewable energies by the year 2032.
The second important goal i have in mind is to expand public transportation in the district within the next six years so that the people of burgenland soon have an alternative to a second car.
What measures do you propose to secure the long-term economic and socio-political future of the region??
I want to make sure, for example, that entrepreneurs receive more support than before, because it has to become easier if you want to do business in the countryside. I also wanted to make sure that the services in our district are geared more towards young women and families. Where young women are doing well, the whole region has good opportunities. I believe that women’s needs have changed the most over the course of time. Women today are no longer just mothers. They are highly specialized professionally and, even if they have a family, they are looking for professions in which their skills are recognized. We need to address the skills shortage in more ways than one. That means we need attractive jobs for two, for the man and for the woman. In the past, when a doctor set up his practice somewhere, his wife often helped out in the practice. Today, on the other hand, this woman is highly qualified herself, she is a mechanical engineer, and of course she wants to get a foothold in this profession. We need to create the conditions for this here.