Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - After the dispute over tampon dispensers in Stuttgart City Hall, Mayor Frank Nopper, despite his sharp criticism, was open to talks with the supporters. "A mayor cannot stay out of questions of day-to-day political business like the Federal President," the CDU politician defended his statements in an interview with the "Stuttgarter Nachrichten" and the "Stuttgarter Zeitung" (Friday). Although he has to position himself as mayor, it is also his job to bring the various groups together as far as possible. "I am willing to approach all dissidents in the municipal council after this overheated debate," Nopper told the newspapers.
The hygiene items are available in both the women's and men's toilets in the town hall, which triggered a heated exchange of blows not only in the municipal council. Nopper had publicly stated that he did not support the municipal council's decision. He had been against tampon dispensers in the town hall from the outset because, in his view, it was not the task of the city administration to provide citizens with taxpayer money free menstrual articles, he said through his spokeswoman.
He regrets "that the discussion experienced such a high level of emotionality, heat and dimension," Nopper told the newspapers. He was not concerned with tampons in men's toilets, but rather "for reasons of practical feasibility against such hygiene articles in publicly accessible toilets of any kind".
