Top German politicians attack each other on Ash Wednesday
Published: Wednesday, Feb 14th 2024, 14:10
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Leading politicians from almost all German parties used the political Ash Wednesday to make pithy statements and attacks on their respective political opponents.
At the CSU rally in Passau, CSU leader Markus Söder attacked the "traffic light" government, in particular the Greens, and once again called for new federal elections. SPD leader Lars Klingbeil, for his part, attacked Söder head-on.
Speakers at virtually all rallies distanced themselves from the right-wing populist AfD in the strongest possible terms. In Biberach, Baden-Württemberg, the Greens canceled their event with Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir at short notice due to massive protests from farmers.
"To the traffic lights: you've had your chance. It's over now. Clear the way. New elections are needed. The traffic light must go," Söder shouted to CSU supporters in Passau. Unlike CDU leader Friedrich Merz, who recently refused to categorically rule out cooperation with the Greens, Söder clearly rejected a federal government alliance with the Greens. "We as the CSU do not want the Greens in the next federal government, no black-green coalition." The Greens are not fit to govern.
Klingbeil countered in Vilshofen: "I think you deserve better than this political simulant at the head of the country." But Söder is also "too weak to become chancellor in this country". Anyone who even loses internally to Armin Laschet (CDU candidate for chancellor in 2021) and bows to the leader of the Free Voters, Hubert Aiwanger, does not have what it takes to be chancellor.
Before the Green Party event in Biberach in Baden-Württemberg, there had been massive protests and blockades by farmers, among others, during which the police had also used pepper spray. The Greens canceled the event at short notice - the chairman of the Biberach district association, Michael Gross, cited aggressive moods at demonstrations in the surrounding area as the reason. According to its own information, the state farmers' association had not called for the protests or supported them in advance.
The Bavarian AfD parliamentary group leader Katrin Ebner-Steiner said in Osterhofen, Lower Bavaria, with a view to the upcoming state elections in three eastern German states this year: "The blue sun will rise in the east in the fall." And: The traffic light government with "permanent grin" Olaf Scholz must go. And then: right before left.
Free Voter leader Aiwanger called on the "traffic light" government to change course, saying it was pursuing "grandiosely wrong-headed policies". Germany needs a strong center, but people are being driven to the left and right. "If people's noses are rubbed in woke issues on a daily basis, it should come as no surprise when they escalate at some point."
For the first time in her new role as the head of a new electoral alliance, former Left Party politician Sahra Wagenknecht also appeared in Lower Bavaria. The FDP sent top European candidate Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann into the race. Wagenknecht criticized the German government for spending on armaments and arms aid for Ukraine. She had already described the traffic light coalition as the stupidest government in Europe. However, she added: "We also have the most dangerous government in Europe, and that is something that cannot be allowed to continue."
©Keystone/SDA
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