In Münster, the Council cross was removed from the hall for the G7 meeting, the Foreign Office confirms. The reason: many G7 participants belong to other religions. Foreign Minister Baerbock was not involved in this decision.
In view of the meeting of the G7 summit, the council cross was removed from the hall of the historic town hall in Münster. This was confirmed by a spokesman for the Foreign Office, after which some media reported. However, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) was not involved in the decision, the spokesman said on Friday in Berlin. It was an agreement between the protocol and the city of Münster and was not a decision at the political level.
The “Westfälische Nachrichten” (WN) had previously reported on the removal of the cross. On request, the city of Münster confirmed a corresponding request from the Foreign Office. This was justified by the fact that people with different religious backgrounds took part in the meeting. According to the Bild newspaper, the Federal Foreign Office called “protocol reasons”.
Such a request has never been addressed to the city, wrote the “Westfälische Nachrichten”, citing circles of the city administration. Baerbock had wanted the Friedenssaal to be the venue for the meeting of foreign ministers, as Münster’s Mayor Markus Lewe (CDU) recently confirmed to the Catholic News Agency (KNA).
To this day, all new members of the Münster city council are sworn in in front of the council cross – which has now been temporarily removed – unless they expressly waive the addition “So help me God”. When Grand Imam Ahmad al-Tayyeb visited Cairo in 2016, the cross had not been removed.
According to the city of Münster, the cross dates back to 1540 and is therefore more than 100 years older than the Peace of Westphalia concluded in 1648 in the Hall of Peace. As a rule, new council members would be sworn in before him in Münster.
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