For Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on a day like the anniversary of the revolution of 1848 and the National Assembly, it is important not only to look back, but also to ask what mandate is derived from it for the present and the future.

Tobias Schrörs

Political editor.

  • Follow I follow

During his visit to the editorial office of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Steinmeier emphasised this once again after the ceremony in St. Paul's Church on Thursday afternoon. He said he was grateful that Frankfurt had decided to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the first National Assembly on a larger scale.

At the ceremony, he paid tribute to her as a pioneer of democracy. Beyond the necessary renovation, St. Paul's Church is to be transformed from a place of remembrance into a place of learning about democracy.

Exchange with citizens

For the sake of democracy, the Federal President is always looking for opportunities for direct exchange with the citizens of the country. That's why he moves his official residence from time to time to different regions, often to small and medium-sized towns, "local time Germany" is the name of the format. Steinmeier said that he would come to these visits "with a great deal of time". This gives him the chance to get a more complete picture.

He described the basic attitude that is important when people have become skeptical about democracy and its parties and institutions as follows: "People who have doubts anyway do not trust the politician who says that paradise is at the end of the horizon, but they want to be described as the way to the horizon."

Steinmeier said this in view of the often polarised debates about transformation processes such as those being conducted in regions such as Senftenberg. Steinmeier recently moved his official residence to this city in the lignite region in southern Brandenburg for three days as part of the "Ortszeit Deutschland" newspaper.

During visits like these, the future of prosperity in the region is often an issue. If he wants to win people over to democracy, he is not interested in the staunch voters of far-right parties. "Above all, I am concerned and those who still have doubts," Steinmeier said. The parties must develop concepts on how to win back regions in which many are skeptical. The most important thing is to show presence there, to go.

In an interview with the editors of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Federal President also addressed the harsh tone on social networks. There, a shorter, concise and polarizing language is used. He is not culturally pessimistic in principle, but he sees a development that this is likely to increase. On the other hand, he put forward a culture of communication that focuses on the rational argument.

With regard to the debates and actions that are often heated by radical climate activists, Steinmeier said that, in his view, there was no longer a problem of perception in society when it came to climate change. People have understood that there is a climate problem. Rather, it is our duty to show what the path should look like. The transformation will only succeed if the weaker ones also have something to gain. Once again, this is probably also about the path to a common horizon.