New mayor of Hannover commits to nuclear abolition

October 28, 2006

Dr. Herbert Schmalstieg, Lord Mayor of Hannover and Vice-President of Mayors for Peace left his office with a well-attended event, with over 500 guests and speeches from, among others, Petra Roth, Mayor of Frankfurt and Vice-President of the German Association of Cities, Christian Wulff, Minister President for the Land of Lower Saxony, and Franz Müntefering, Minister of Employment and Social Affairs. Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder attended the event but did not speak. All the speakers mentioned Herbert’s Schmalstieg’s commitment for the abolition of nuclear weapons and his work in Mayors for Peace. His participation in the Mayors for Peace delegation to New York in 2005 and his speech to the NPT conference there was mentioned several times. Dr. Schmalstieg’s successor as Lord Mayor of Hannover is Stephan Weil, who has also promised to step into Dr. Schmalstieg’s shoes, when it comes to commitment to the Mayors for Peace goal of ridding the world of the nuclear threat.