Bizarre candidacy withdrawn. The disco polo singer will not be the president of the foundation
Thalhammer resigned “for personal reasons” from running for the position of head of the Foundation's management board, the German daily reported on its website on Sunday. His candidacy was proposed last month by the German Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, led by Dorothea Baer from the Bavarian CSU.
Thalhammer explained that “the objections raised against him, which he considers unfair and hurting him personally, could make it difficult for him to perform his tasks and thus negatively affect German-Polish relations.”
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Why did Tobias Thalhammer withdraw from the candidacy?
Who proposed Thalhammer's candidacy?
What were the main objections to Thalhammer?
Who currently heads the Polish-German Science Foundation?
“New impulses” versus party squabbles
When promoting his candidacy, the ministry emphasized that his life partner was Polish, and he had gained popularity in Poland by performing disco-polo songs, also in Polish. As “Toby from Munich”, he has a large group of supporters in Poland. According to the ministry, it could give the Foundation “new impulses”.
Thalhammer's candidacy was met with opposition from members of the Foundation's board of trustees. In their opinion, the candidate proposed by the German ministry does not have the competence to manage an institution that requires knowledge of scientific and academic circles in both countries.
According to the editorial team, Thalhammer's candidacy was the result of party squabbles. The ministry controlled by the CSU wanted to force a man out of its political environment. The 46-year-old politician moved from the FDP to the CSU in 2018. He is currently a councilor in Neubiberg near Munich. The Bavarian CSU, together with the CDU and SPD, forms a coalition government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The Polish-German Science Foundation (PNFN) was established in 2009. Since then, it has financed nearly 500 research projects and also supports young scientists. The initiators were the governments of Germany and Poland and the German state of Brandenburg. The management board is currently headed by Cornelia Pieper, and her deputy is prof. Jan Rydel from the University of the National Education Commission in Krakow.
The current chairwoman of the management board, Cornelia Pieper, was the deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and for the last 11 years she was the consul general of Germany in Gdańsk. “FAZ” emphasized that Pieper speaks Polish fluently and has great contacts in Polish politics and the world of science.
According to “FAZ”, Poland and Brandenburg vetoed Thalhammer's candidacy. Both Pieper and Rydel declared their readiness to lead the Foundation's management board for the next three years. The decision is to be made at a meeting of the Foundation's board of trustees on Monday.
