If the corona situation worsens again, the district council wants to be prepared and be able to switch to hybrid meetings.
The council of elders is now daring the test.
District
- The district council paves the way for hybrid meetings.
Mandate holders will soon also be able to participate in committees online.
Is that the end of face-to-face meetings?
The council of elders of the district council is expected to start a test run in autumn.
In the meantime, technical prerequisites should be created and legal questions answered for hybrid meetings of the district council and its committees.
The parliamentary group chairmen, the district administrator and his deputies belong to the council of elders.
The body has no decision-making power.
A few weeks ago, a first test run failed due to the unfamiliar technology.
Decision "for the drawer"
What District Administrator Christoph Göbel (CSU) called a decision “for the drawer” at the beginning of the district council meeting in Garching is a helpful compromise for the district council, which every parliamentary group was able to follow. The door has been pushed open, the way is free "if it becomes necessary due to the pandemic". A worsening of the infection rate as a triggering need is generally expected from autumn.
The delta variant has by no means dominated the debate: District councilors at home on their laptops would not blow CO2 into the air, argued the FDP, for example.
District Administrator Göbel countered this argument about the energy consumption of technical systems during streaming.
However, the district council rejected the request of the Liberals to counter the CO2 emissions of arriving district councils with consumption through streaming.
Another pro-argument: Hybrid allows meeting participation in the event of complications, such as child care or long distances.
Critics, on the other hand, see the end of political culture approaching without direct confrontation in face-to-face meetings.
The ability to connect online also produces convenience.
Hybird yes, live stream no
The council of elders will discuss the pros and cons during the trial run in autumn.
There are no hybrid meetings planned for the youth welfare committee (JHA) and the district council itself.
In the JHA in particular, external experts would confront the group with additional legal problems.
The decision to prepare hybrid sessions for the drawer first expressly rules out streaming.
At the end of last year, the district council decided against broadcasting meetings live online by a narrow majority.
The personal rights of the voluntary district councils and external speakers were decisive.
The pre-advisory committee had given live streams a clear rejection.
A colorful coalition of the Greens, ÖDP, AfD and Die Linke supported the FDP's streaming application in the district council.
The AfD renewed the application in March of this year.
We provide information on all developments relating to the coronavirus in the Munich district in our news ticker.
