“I liked to shape bamberg”

The man is serious. This becomes clear not only when looking at the comprehensive draft for a "municipal election program bamberg" of the party volt clearly, on which hans-gunter brunker with its 25 comrades-in-arms works since six weeks. 1.3 percent of the people of bamberg voted for volt in the european elections 2019, now the young pan-european party also wants to run in the municipal elections 2020 – with hans-gunter brunker as a candidate for the office of mayor of badenburg.

"I liked bamberg design. This has been my home for many years, I have grown fond of the city", says the 52-year-old, for whom the time has come for a change in bamberg. The married father of three has been working as a freelance actor, speaker and presenter since 2013. Previously, the doctor of chemistry was, among other things, a consultant at mckinsey and managing director of a biotechnology company. "I was able to gain a lot of experience and my view is relatively broad. That's important for someone who wants to be active in the community.", says brunker. "In bamberg, there is a sense that the citizens are really interested in their city." when the native of bad bruckenau joined volt, he found "the right people with the right goals" hit. Although his party is still small in bamberg, volt is growing very strongly and has unusually committed members.

Supporter list required

"Many people didn't know us at the time of the european elections, but we did a lot of campaigning and were able to make up considerable ground by the election date." brunker is also preparing his team for the upcoming municipal elections – in order for volt to be able to run in the elections, 340 supporters must first sign up on lists in the town hall. "That will be the first major challenge, says the candidate for mayor. But the goal is: "we want to be a strong faction in the city council."

The nomination meeting is scheduled for november, by which time the election program will also be ready. Already now, economics is emerging as one of the focal points. "We need an economic basis that enables us to finance what is important to us", says brunker. His party wants to focus on the strengths of bamberg as a business location and develop them further: "we must create sustainable jobs." it therefore makes sense to demand companies that will still be able to offer jobs in 20 years' time.

The major employers such as bosch will remain important for him in the future as well. "Such companies are always evolving. We must offer them incentives to establish their forward-looking fields with us." brunker sees a future field in the medical valley, in which bamberg could play an even stronger role: "as a location for academic training in medical professions, we were able to create jobs and at the same time we already had the urgently needed specialists in the city."

According to the volt plans, the opnv should take on a different role and become more attractive for people. Brunker could envision a 365-euro ticket for everyone, not just for schools and trainees. "But we are also looking at the question of whether a special tax of seven euros per capita and month could be used to do without ticket revenue altogether."

For the volt candidate, "something has gone wrong in the housing market; bamberg has missed the boat on development. Brunker wants to see more social housing construction in public hands again. When designing new residential areas, social segregation must be prevented, because "only in this way can we maintain the very good community spirit that we have in bamberg.

Lobby for cultural workers

Many cultural workers know brunker as chairman of the interessengemeinschaft freie darstellende kunstler (association of independent performing artists). In this function, he advocates, among other things, better demands for independent theaters. "There are indications that housekeeping will become more difficult. But that does not mean that we can still make more short work of the art demand." independent culture in particular needs a better lobby in the city council.

The topic of citizen participation also plays an important role in the volt program: "why not present certain projects in an understandable and transparent manner and obtain a test vote from the citizens of bamberg??" this way, the city council and administration could get a feel for the public's opinion early on – and avoid surprises like the muna referendum.