Feature photo: Discussion Group 2023
Table of Contents
Meeting
In the evening there was a meeting with the board of the Free Voters and another with our district advisory councils. After a good two hours, a few more appointments have been set and I also have one or two things to do in advance.
I still managed to have a conversation with you this week Detlef Stern to secure. But probably not to continue to engage with the Fediverse. That will have to wait a while.
Door & hinge
Even though door-to-door conversations are usually not carried out with full attention, I was not spared from having to have a few of them in the last few days; However, none in a pedagogical sense or even with such significance. The last two — and especially today's — between car doors, which makes the whole thing a little more “dramatic.” But everyone with the attention span possible.
In between there are a few quick exchanges via text message or email, so I should actually have put the brakes on long ago, otherwise I'll end up giving "saddle commands" in the coming days.
In any case, I am currently shifting my focus to the Free Voters, who have a few important decisions to make at the annual general meeting this week.
conversations
I was very pleased after seeing them on Saturday 7th Hertenstein Talks of the EUROPE UNION had provided an initial overview of all participants in the conversation. On the one hand, the number of people who did not come despite registering was pleasingly low and, on the other hand, there were other “surprise guests”. This meant we were actually able to reach our first target of 80 participants.
As already envisaged in the first Hertenstein talks and confirmed by the follow-up discussions, there is an upper limit of participants for such intensive discussions, which should be around 1 participants. Furthermore, it will be very difficult to fully reach and involve all participants.
The origin of the participants was also very pleasing this time; in addition to participants from Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg, there were also other participants from Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium and France. They brought their expertise from a wide variety of European uses and thus covered the entire diversity of Europe. It was also exciting that not only members of Alliance 90 / The Greens, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, the Free Democratic Party of Germany, the Free Voters Heilbronn, the Social Democratic Party of Germany and Volt Germany were there, but that they were “on an equal level” with others Participants without any political affiliation interacted. The unifying bond for everyone was “Europe” and the recognition of its necessity for the future of our society.
The view of the participants from outside is also very interesting. The two journalists present all viewed the participants as European experts, which undoubtedly speaks for the quality of the discussions.
The quality and duration of the conversations once again took their toll on everyone, as there was probably not a participant in the evening who didn't go to bed exhausted. The photo above, which I took in a discussion group in the afternoon, shows quite well how exhausting such conversations can be. And even very experienced parliamentarians were once again impressed by the intensity of the discussions: nine hours of discussions in changing discussion groups and on different topics challenge every capacity. And when you then want to “make your point” yourself, there is a completely normal level of tension that pushes everyone, whether professional or amateur, to their own limits.
And so these nine hours were once again more than strenuous for everyone involved, but still far too short! And so I'm already looking forward to the upcoming 8th Hertenstein Talks.
