Oberhausen.
After the multiple crisis year 2022, the Oberhausen SPD appealed in the greeting for 2023 to the federal and state governments to ensure stable city finances.
In Oberhausen, the good tradition has become established that the parties and electoral communities in the city council address all citizens with a political greeting at the beginning of the year. The consequences of this small series of central statements by the council fractions and groups on their view of the current situation in Oberhausen will be published in excerpts bit by bit. In this episode, the SPD addresses the population.
Sonja Bongers, chairwoman of the 19-member council group of the Social Democrats in the Oberhausen city council, writes in the greeting of the SPD group at the turn of the year:
“Dear Oberhausen residents, it’s been a good year since we looked to 2022 with cautious optimism. Finally, there was hope that we might not yet overcome the corona pandemic, but that we were increasingly getting the consequences under control. And we can devote our energy to the great tasks of the future.
But then the war came back to Europe. Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine in February 2022, in violation of international law, has permanently destroyed our hope of a quick return to “post-corona normality”. In energy and defense policy, for example, we are faced with new, sometimes uncomfortable questions that, however, require quick answers.
SPD: Oberhausen’s debt burden exceeds the two billion euro mark
Even if the war in Ukraine seems far away, its effects can also be felt in Oberhausen: more than 3000 people from Ukraine fled to our city from the Russian attacks. Of course, our solidarity, our sympathy goes to all Ukrainians. However, we are particularly thinking these days of the friends from our twin town of Zaporizhia, who are repeatedly at the mercy of Russian attacks. We very much hope that the donations from Oberhausen will do their part to alleviate at least a little the worst suffering of the people in Zaporizhia. At this point we would like to thank all those who have donated. Who organized and got involved.
In the past year, however, we also had to experience a turning point for the city’s finances: Oberhausen’s debt level will exceed the two billion euro mark. Corona and the Russian war of aggression with all its consequences have virtually wiped out the savings efforts of previous years. The only thing that can help now is an old debt solution, which must finally be launched this year. The federal and state governments have a duty here. After all, there are no free solutions to the problems we face today – from the shortage of skilled workers to climate change.
We must and we will make Oberhausen fit for the future. But this requires a solid financial position. An agreement between Berlin and Düsseldorf on this issue would be really good news for 2023.
SPD assures: time of standstill in Oberhausen is finally over
There has been some good news in Council politics over the past year and we will see the impact of it very soon. In this way, SPD politicians have ensured that the important and yet long-neglected topic of “building bridges” is back at the top of the agenda for Alt-Oberhausen. And we are confident: the time of standstill is over once and for all – and that shouldn’t just apply to building bridges.
Very centrally located in the Sterkrade pedestrian zone, a model apartment will soon be built in cooperation with “Gute Hoffnung leben” in which digital assistance systems for elderly and disabled people can be tested. We very much hope that many older and handicapped people will experience very practically how much modern technology can support them in coping with everyday life, so that they can live longer in their own four walls. We are very pleased that this proposal from the ranks of SPD social politicians will soon become reality. We are just as happy about the forthcoming establishment of the first two outdoor fitness areas in Lirich and Sterkrade.
Of course, the political to-do list is far from exhausted with this small list. But it shows in an exemplary manner that the effort is worthwhile and that it sometimes takes many small steps to achieve great progress. We certainly never tire of working together with the people in Oberhausen to make our city even more livable and lovable, despite all the adversities. The SPD council group wishes everyone in Oberhausen a happy and healthy 2023.” Sonja Bongerschairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group
More articles from this category can be found here: Oberhausen
