The minister-president comes to hofheim, and nobody notices it. Not quite, but almost. Only about 200 people showed up to bury horst seehofer, the father of the state, the CSU boss, the power man. In any case, there was still plenty of room on the market square in hofheim. No hustle, no bustle, but plenty of sunshine.
When four black limousines (three bmws and an audi A8 in front) roll up in front of the new burgerzentrum, the visitors cheer joyfully. He is not yet to be seen, the minister-president, he sits behind tinted glass. The motorcade stops, seehofer gets out, smiles, waves, shakes a few hands and obviously feels comfortable in the role of the star guest.
In a moment he will say a few words and put the people who are there in the right mood. With words that no one really needs to take seriously but wants to hear. Seehofer briefly mentions that he comes from ingolstadt on the danube in upper bavaria and is now looking forward to "climbing the cultural and intellectual heights of hofheim". He knows the small town and the district of habberge. For him, all this is "an epitome of bavarian, I must say, french culture".
Minister for rural development
Then he goes into the subject, which he will discuss a little later with his CSU party friends, district administrator rudolf handwerker and hofheim's mayor wolfgang borst, among others, at the burger center. In the future, the focus of state politics will be on strengthening local self-government and demanding a state structure. What seehofer means: every remote village should get a chance, the population decline in rural areas should be stopped. He speaks out against ever-growing urban centers, saying he doesn't want any megacities.
And then a bit of election campaigning: seehofer declares he wants to create a new ministerial post for these tasks. A quasi-special representative for rural development. A clear signal to the voters in the countryside: I take you very seriously. "Bavaria as a whole cannot do well if the individual regions are not doing well", he says.
And exaggerated flattery is part of horst seehofer's good style: "francs are the most industrious, hard-working and intelligent people." especially lower franconia, which he describes as one of the strongest government districts in bavaria. A people made for such difficult tasks, finding a recipe against demographic change. His government could set a few framework conditions, give assistance, but it must be done on the spot. Then everyone will be better off, even horst seehofer. But he seems quite content anyway, because he is, after all, a bayer: "i don't want to proclaim bavaria a paradise. But we are already the precursor to paradise." the small crowd in the marketplace is enthusiastic, laughing and clapping. Today, horst seehofer does not want anyone to stand in his way.
Craftsman is heard
The minister-president becomes more concrete in a personal conversation with the district administrator and the mayors of the community alliance hofheimer land. In the meeting room of the hofheim civic center, he promises to do something specifically for the rural structure: "things will change after my visit. They will notice that." horst seehofer has an open ear for rudolf handwerker's suggestion. The district administrator had pointed out the unfair distribution of demand money and demanded "a real spread of the forest rates".
He cited the example of the upcoming general renovations of "practically all our school buildings". The county will have to spend more than 50 million euros over the next few years to pay for it. "I can't understand why the average forestry rate in lower franconia is 42 percent and 34 percent in financially strong upper bavaria." here, the weak regions must be granted much more.
DSL expansion
DSL expansion in rural areas was also an issue. Here, seehofer blames a provision in the basic law (the expansion of power lines is the responsibility of the private sector). However, he is looking for a compromise and warmed to the proposal that the maximum amount of 500 million euros in each case be paid.000 euros for municipalities to distribute differently if necessary (from a municipality that, for example, only receives 100.000 euros needed, but came up with a higher rate of funding, money could then be reallocated to other communities with more needs). Seehofer wants to examine whether this is feasible.