Eisenach (dpa/th) - After the decision for Halle an der Saale as the seat of the new future center for German unity and European transformation, Eisenach's mayor Katja Wolf was disappointed. The settlement of the center would have been "essential for the further development of the city and the entire surrounding area, unlike other applicants," said Wolf on Wednesday. "The region's greatest opportunity for decades has passed."
Unlike other cities, Eisenach "would not have submitted an ivory tower application with a large budget," said Wolf. According to the Lord Mayor, the Commission of Experts also acknowledged that the application was largely made possible by volunteer citizens. Even after the Thuringian state government initially favored Jena last summer, the initiative group stuck to the application as a whole, said Wolf. "No candidate had as much popular support as we did. Our campaign was a grassroots movement from the heart of the city."
Eisenach, with around 42,000 inhabitants, was the only applicant who did not have its own university. Wolf described it as understandable that the decision had now been made in favor of a large university location. Nevertheless, the Eisenach actors would have hoped that aspects such as the central location in Germany and Europe and experiences with far-reaching changes would have been given more consideration.
According to Mayor Wolf, she wants to stay in contact with the federal government in order to obtain support for the city's "great transformation task" through other projects. Since Eisenach specializes in the combustion engine in many areas, Eisenach is particularly affected by the change in the automotive industry. The site of a former automobile factory in Eisenach was intended as the location for the Future Center.
The selection jury announced the recommendation for Halle on Tuesday evening. In addition to the two Thuringian applicants Jena and Eisenach, Frankfurt (Oder) and the duo Leipzig and Plauen were in the running.
