Dear residents of Passau,

First of all: Thank you. Thank you for your trust , for the many conversations over the past weeks, and for every single vote.

After ten years of political absence, being elected to the city council again is anything but a matter of course for me. All the more, I look forward to actively shaping policy for our city once again – with new ideas, new forms of participation, and hopefully also with a new political style.

I am particularly pleased that we immediately became the third-strongest force in the mayoral election. That is a real statement. At the same time, it is of course unfortunate that Holm Putzke narrowly missed entering the runoff for the office of mayor. Passau could have benefited from a mayor who thinks differently and has the courage to challenge entrenched structures.

Because that is exactly what our candidacy was about.

Passau has often been in a bit of a political slumber over recent decades – characterized by a grand coalition of CSU and SPD that has managed many things but rarely truly rethought them. Holm Putzke is – like me – someone who does not engage in politics to settle comfortably into party structures. For us, it has always been about the issues.

Our parliamentary group consists of an exciting team of three: Holm Putzke, Georg Steiner, and myself. What is interesting is that we represent three very different political backgrounds. Holm Putzke and Georg Steiner remain members of the CSU, while I come from the environmental movement. Many still know me from my time with the ÖDP and as the organizer of the Non-Smoker Protection Referendum. At heart, I have remained a Green and ÖDP member to this day.

That is precisely why this alliance works so well.

We are not a traditional party faction, but rather a group of people who deliberately work together across party lines. We ran on the FDP ticket, but we see ourselves in the city council as independent councilors.

One could also say: We are trying to practice a kind of politics that should actually be self-evident in Germany – policy based on substance rather than party politics.

I am also personally looking forward to the new city council term – not least because I will see some of my former party colleagues from the ÖDP again, some of whom I have not met in over 15 years. Politics is also about encounter and relationship.

And perhaps we can also cultivate a political style where one can still have a drink together after a city council meeting, even if there was passionate and sometimes heated debate beforehand. During the election campaign, I unfortunately witnessed other moments—such as when someone like Armin Dickl could not even manage to shake Holm Putzke’s hand. That is unfortunate. Politics may argue, but it should never lose the human dimension.

Because that is exactly what matters to us: not just administering politics, but living it.

We want to organize majorities not along party lines, but along good ideas. That means: discussing, listening, comparing concepts – and ultimately supporting the best proposal. Regardless of which party it comes from.

In this spirit, we are also open to participating in a future coalition if it makes sense in terms of content. At the same time, we have no problem being a constructive opposition. For us, opposition does not mean blocking, but rather contributing ideas, questioning, and demanding better solutions.

The advantage of our situation is: We have no party apparatus behind us that we must accommodate. No internal power games, no party discipline, no tactical constraints.

If you will, the “F” in FDP truly stands for freedom for us – the freedom to make decisions based on what is genuinely beneficial for Passau.

However, there are also clear boundaries. Right-wing populist positions are completely unacceptable to us. We stand for human rights, for an open society, and for respectful political discourse.

Environmental policy and the energy transition remain particularly close to my heart personally. These issues will also play a major role in municipal politics – whether in energy, mobility, urban development, or in how we handle our natural resources.

For me, however, politics is not only local.

In addition to my work on the city council, I am President of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations. In this role, I travel extensively and try to promote dialogue across conflict lines. In tourism, people often work together where political systems or conflicts would otherwise divide them.

Currently, we are engaged in initiatives such as exchange formats between guides from Russia and Ukraine or between Cyprus and Northern Cyprus. Such encounters build trust and keep channels of communication open—especially where political fronts have hardened. Please also see my WFTGA Nagasaki Peace Declaration for Tourist Guides.

My center of life has indeed become European. I live in Passau, Upper Austria, and Vienna – while also traveling extensively around the world. I want to bring these perspectives into municipal politics as well: openness, dialogue, and the willingness to learn from one another.

Passau has given us a strong mandate with this election result.

Now it is up to us to make something of it.

Thank you sincerely for your trust.

Yours
Sebastian Frankenberger