Mutual understanding was Ingbert Liebing’s most important concern on his first trip to Brussels. „I wanted to convey our philosophy of municipal self-government to Brussels. Apart from Austria, Germany is unique with this in Europe,“ says the current Managing Director of the municipal utilities association VKU. As a member of the Bundestag, Liebing was the local government spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group at the time – after nine years as mayor of the municipality of Sylt-Ost.