Shortly after the funding agreement was announced, the political opponents of Wolfgang Schuster were quick to condemn the Stuttgart mayor for backtracking on a promise made during the 2004 mayoral elections - namely that he would allow the population of Stuttgart to decide the fate of Stuttgart 21 if the additional costs of the project amounted to more than €200 million. On hearing the promise at the time, Alliance '90/The Greens candidate Boris Palmer withdrew his candidacy for the second round vote, recommending that his supporters should back Schuster instead.