Electoral podium in Mettmann: state politics under the local magnifying glass.

Does the anniversary site need video surveillance to ensure more security? With that question, state politics came under the local Mettmann magnifying glass Wednesday night. Broken down from the sometimes impoverished heights of the election campaign, the differences between CDU, SPD, Greens and FDP could be precisely stark. During the round table of the association Verein zu Mettmann (GVM), the two direct candidates of the CDU of Mettmann, Christian Untrieser and Martin Sträßer, spoke out in favor of more video surveillance in public places and at S-Bahn – it increases the sense of security among citizens.

Matthias Sttascheit (SPD), Ina Besche-Krastl and Esther Kanschat (Greens) vigorously opposed. Besche-Krastl pointed out that many crimes happened right in front of surveillance cameras: “It never stopped a crime. Sttascheit said: “CCTV only makes sense if there is a police station nearby – in Düsseldorf’s Old Town, for example. In squares and S-Bahn stations in the Mettmann district, it would take too long for the officers to be on site and able to intervene. Thomas Sterz (FDP) recommended using prevention more intensively to prevent crime.

Overall, the Christian Democrats made it clear during the round that internal security in North Rhine-Westphalia had increased significantly under Interior Minister Herbert Reul. The Land of North Rhine-Westphalia has the lowest crime rate since reunification. Here, Matthias Sttascheit straddles the two. The black and yellow government in Düsseldorf thus claims demographic change as a success: “Since the population of NRW is aging, there are fewer young men between the ages of 20 and 30 who belong to the main delinquent groups.

The topics of education and environmental/climate protection were dealt with particularly intensively during the two and a half hours. Martin Sträßer (CDU) listed the difficult school legacy that the liberal-conservative government took over from the red-green in 2017. There was only a seven-year-old teacher requirements plan, the discontinuation of specialized schools and the G8 had to be reversed. “And in 2017 only 15% of NRW schools were connected to the broadband network, today it’s 85% – and the remaining schools will follow later this year.”

The SPD and the Greens also painted question marks behind these success numbers. Ester Kanschat of the Greens has made it clear that the pandemic has accelerated the digitalization of schools, not the current state government. Matthias Sttascheit attributed the shortage of primary school teachers to unfair pay, according to him. Again, Sträßer retorts: “Teacher training lasts seven years. It is only in the next legislature that we will be able to reap the fruits of our school policy.

When discussing the environment, all contestants highlighted how durable they are when traveling with the S-Bahn, e-bikes and e-cars. Esther Kanschat of the Greens criticized: “It bothers me that we always judge people on the basis of one or two exemplary points. The term “virtuous terror” was used.

There were clear differences on the question of how to secure Germany’s energy supply in the face of the war in Ukraine. Thomas Sterz suggested letting active nuclear reactors run longer. Ina Besche-Krastl shook her head vigorously: “Fissile uranium comes from Russia and Ukraine. You cannot claim that nuclear energy will make us independent. Christian Untrieser pledged himself to the CDU’s election platform to phase out coal as quickly as possible – complete with the suggestion that coal-fired power plants be kept ready as a reserve for darkness. , windless winter days. Matthias Sttascheit warned: “We don’t talk enough about other bridging technologies.” He cited large heat pumps and the ever-improving energy storage technology as examples. At the end of the Q&A session, CDU Mettmann leader Gabriele Hruschka appealed to the panelists: “Please bring the citizens with you into the climate discussion. Otherwise, we will not progress.