Federal election campaign
Dispute over willingness to perform – Merz: SPD thinks in templates
Devaluations à la “Tünkram” or more fairness – shortly before Christmas Eve, the opponents in the election campaign asserted that they no longer wanted to put each other down. And then mount the next attacks.
In the election campaign dispute over willingness to perform and social benefits, Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz accuses the SPD of rigid stereotype thinking. “The word about social cuts is already part of the standard repertoire of every answer when we make suggestions about how we can move forward again in Germany,” said Merz in a video interview with the German Press Agency in Berlin. Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) had accused the Union of insulting the approximately 45 million employees with its criticism of the alleged lack of motivation in Germany.
The new dispute was triggered by statements made by the CDU general secretary. Carsten Linnemann complained in the RTL/ntv early start: “We are no longer growing. We are at the bottom, we are being relegated. In Germany there is no longer any willingness to perform.”
“Funny view of Germany”
Linnemann generally assumes that employees are lazy, Heil then said in a dpa video interview. This is an “outrage”. “These are craftsmen, these are nursing staff, these are the self-employed, these are soldiers, these are police officers, these are firefighters, these are cleaners.” According to the Labor Minister, Linnemann has a “funny view of Germany, how it treats people.” “That’s not my way of doing politics.”
The next day, the CDU leader countered that Heil’s criticism of Linnemann corresponded to “a pattern that we see again and again among the Social Democrats.” Merz, who critics have accused of being aloof in the past, said: “We have a lot of people in Germany who work an enormous amount.”
Dispute over the right path
Behind the back and forth are differences in concepts. The CDU chairman said that for many people there is too little net left of the gross. “That’s what we want: We want to promote motivation. We want to encourage people, encourage them.” The Union even wants to “encourage older people to stay in the labor market longer with our proposal for an active pension”.
According to the election manifesto, the Union wants to use active pensions to make voluntary continued work beyond the regular retirement age more attractive. Salary should then only have to be taxed from 2,000 euros per month. Merz once again rejected allegations from Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) that the Union was planning pension cuts after a victory in the federal election in February. “The Chancellor knows that this is wrong,” added Merz.
“Tünkram” and what came after
After the mutual attacks of the past few weeks, including Scholz’s denigration of Merz, “Fritze Merz likes to talk nonsense,” the combatants had actually vowed to improve in matters of style. “Tünkram” is Low German and means something like stupid stuff. On Thursday, the SPD brought a fairness agreement into play for all parties except the AfD. On the same day, however, the exchange of blows surrounding social policy threatened to degenerate into a mud fight.
Why is the economy slowing?
In this matter, Heil also acknowledged the enormous current economic problems in Germany – only, according to him, they are not due to laziness on the part of people, but rather to the stuttering of the global economic engine. The key is to maintain or strengthen competitiveness in international competition. “However, not by demotivating or even insulting the hard-working people in Germany,” for example, “if one assumes that Germans are no longer productive in this country.”
Linnemann and the CDU want – based on the finding of a lack of willingness to perform – to make overtime bonuses tax-free, for example. Those who do extra work must be relieved, such as pensioners who voluntarily work longer hours, said Linnemann. Heil, on the other hand, said that in view of the profound economic problems and the sometimes unfairly increased competitive pressure with China or the USA, the task now was to “fight for industrial jobs”.
Linnemann sticks to hard work theses
Linnemann also rejected Heil’s allegations. “The failure of the traffic light has meant that people’s great willingness to perform is no longer rewarded,” said the criticized CDU general secretary to the dpa. “It’s not the working population that’s the problem, it’s the failure of the traffic lights.”
Heil also announced for the further election campaign up to the federal election planned for February 23rd: “I am always in favor of arguing in a democracy and being able to compromise is also part of it.” He didn’t want people to put each other down personally, said Heil. “But there must also be a dispute between Democrats about the right concepts.”
FDP also wants more fairness
Meanwhile, the FDP, whose leader Christian Lindner was dismissed as finance minister by Scholz, basically supports the SPD idea of a fairness agreement for the election campaign. “As Free Democrats, we have great interest in a clean election campaign,” said the designated Secretary General Marco Buschmann to the dpa.
Linnemann in the early start of RTL/ntv election program Union SPD election program election program FDP election program Greens
dpa
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
