Ukrainian refugees who first enter the country and then leave: Friedrich Merz senses “social tourism” there – and reaps fierce opposition. Now the CDU boss is rowing back.
Friedrich Merz expected a headwind, but he said so anyway. The leader of the CDU said in an interview that there was “social tourism” by Ukrainian refugees in Germany, triggering outrage among government politicians. He has now apologized for his choice of words. “If my choice of words is perceived as hurtful, then I apologize in all forms,” Merz tweeted on Tuesday. There was a lot of criticism for his statements about the refugees from Ukraine, explained Merz and added: “I regret the use of the word “social tourism”. That was an inaccurate description of a problem that could be observed in individual cases.”
Merz wrote that his comment “only applied to the lack of registration of the refugees. It was and is far from my intention to criticize the refugees from Ukraine, who are confronted with a hard fate.”
The head of the CDU told Bild TV on Monday evening: “We are now experiencing social tourism from these refugees: to Germany, back to Ukraine, to Germany, back to Ukraine.” The background, according to Merz: Initially, Ukraine refugees were entitled to care under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act – since June they have received basic security, i.e. the same benefits as Hartz IV recipients, and are therefore better off.
Sharp criticism after Merz’s “social tourism” statement
The criticism was not long in coming. “How does it actually fit in with the Union’s much-vaunted solidarity with Ukraine that Friedrich Merz speaks of “social tourism” in the context of people fleeing this terrible war of aggression?” asked Green Party leader Ricarda Lang on Tuesday morning Twitter. Fraction leader Britta Haßelmann wrote there: “Wanting to distinguish yourself by devaluing other people is an instrument that right-wing populists regularly use. Friedrich Merz also knows that. Every means of self-promotion seems right to him.” In 2013, the “non-word” jury of linguists chose the word “social tourism” as the non-word of the year.
The SPD accused Merz in the Bundestag of using the tactics of the AfD. “He deliberately wants to start a political culture war and shift the discourse to the right by constantly shifting borders,” criticized parliamentary secretary Katja Mast on Tuesday. “So far we only know that from the AfD,” she told the German Press Agency.
In his own words, Merz expects even greater problems with refugees from Russia “if the Federal Government did what the Federal Minister of the Interior suggested, namely to give practically all conscientious objectors to military service mobilization in Russia access to the Federal Republic of Germany”. The Union is “strictly opposed”.
Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung” that deserters threatened with severe repression usually receive international protection in Germany. For the Greens foreign policy expert Jürgen Trittin, there is no question that Russian conscientious objectors should also be given protection in Germany: “Anyone who tries to prevent this is doing the business of the warmonger Vladimir Putin,” he said in the RTL / ntv “early start”.
Source: Stern
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