CDU politician Jens Spahn falls foul of the bottle cap comparison

Handing out against the traffic light government was the order of the day at the so-called Germany Day of the Junge Union (JU) at the weekend. The CDU Bundestag member Jens Spahn also took part diligently – but, in the opinion of many, scored a huge own goal.

“While Elon Musk is showing the world that a rocket can even park backwards, here in the EU we are introducing drinking bottles where every time you drink you somehow… That’s our innovation and they make the Space Ship. That’s the difference in thinking,” said the CDU politician excitedly on stage in Halle (Saale).

“While Musk is working on high technology, you can no longer take the caps off bottles in Europe,” the JU later summarized Spahn’s statement on X (formerly Twitter).

What both refer to: The so-called tethered caps, the closures of disposable plastic bottles and beverage cartons that can no longer be easily removed, which are and. For Jens Spahn, they are obviously evidence of a climate hostile to innovation in Germany.

In fact, experience also shows that it is possible for people to drink from the affected bottles and boxes without much difficulty; if in doubt, the lids can also be torn off with a courageous tug (or simply bought reusable packaging). Former Green Party co-leader Ricarda Lang summed it up at .”

Ultimately, it is something completely different, which is why Jens Spahn finds himself exposed to criticism. The attached bottle caps are based on EU Directive 2019/904 – and are an innovation to avoid plastic waste, which, among other things, threatens the world’s oceans.

The regulation was cast into German law on February 10, 2021. At that time, the federal government passed the disposable plastic labeling regulation. And this stipulates: “Beverage containers (…) that are single-use plastic products and whose closures or lids are made entirely or partly of plastic may only be placed on the market from July 3, 2024 if the closures or lids remain intact for the intended period of use remain attached to the container.”

At the cabinet table with Chancellor Angela Merkel at the time was her Health Minister: Jens Spahn. The Bundestag approved the regulation on March 25, 2021 – with the votes of the CDU and CSU.

The reactions on social networks to Spahn’s comments are correspondingly harsh. They range from a simple “dirious” to “cheapest populism” to “decision-dementia”.

The bottle cap comparison at the CDU youth’s Germany Day was not the only controversial statement made by Jens Spahn. Again star reported, he also caused a stir with a Nazi comparison.