Bodo Ramelow in “Early Start”
“We are not in a central state”
06/16/2023, 11:13 am
Thuringia’s Prime Minister Ramelow criticizes the way the federal government deals with the states. It is disrespectful how the chancellery treats the prime minister. Ramelow also explains why the AfD was so popular in the district election in the district of Sonneberg.
After yesterday’s prime ministers’ conference, Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow called on the federal government to take the states seriously: “We are not the prefects who are attached,” said the left-wing politician in ntv’s “early start”. “We are not in a central state where the states are just regional, subordinate officials.”
As an example of what he considers to be the disrespectful way the federal government treats the states, Ramelow pointed out that the bill on the digitization of the immigration offices negotiated yesterday had only come from the chancellery 24 hours before the prime ministers’ conference. “The fact that the draft comes from the Chancellery 24 hours in advance, that there are technical terms in it that I haven’t even heard of, that I normally have to feed back with my specialist level, that’s a way we shouldn’t treat each other like that ‘ said Ramelow.
He calls for respect for cooperation and specifically criticized the FDP politician Christoph Meyer, deputy head of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag and chairman of the Berlin FDP. When he “says about the countries that we are a community of robbery and loot, then that is a disparagement that gets under my skin emotionally,” said the prime minister indignantly.
It had been agreed that there was still no progress in the dispute over the financing of the care and accommodation of refugees at the Prime Ministers’ Conference. “We want to change the financing system and we need the necessary time for that,” said Ramelow. In Thuringia, the municipalities were given a guarantee that they would not be left with money.
“The reason for the AfD high is a feeling of disadvantage”
Ramelow also commented on the result of the district election in the district of Sonneberg in his state. The AfD candidate had received the most votes there, and in a week’s time a runoff will decide whether Sonneberg will be the first district in Germany to be run by the AfD. Ramelow sees the reasons for the AfD high in a feeling of disadvantage. Sonneberg is “not a region of dependent precariat”, on the contrary, Sonneberg is one of the strongest districts in Thuringia, an industrial-political heavyweight. “Sonneberg’s prosperity rather speaks against xenophobic local politics at the regulars’ table,” said Ramelow.
The reason is more a feeling of disadvantage in East Germany, according to the left-wing politician. The way German unity was made gave rise to the feeling that people in the East were second-class citizens. The Thuringian AfD boss Björn Höcke, who belongs to the right-wing extremist wing of his party, took it up cleverly. “He stands up and says they didn’t take to the streets for that,” said Ramelow. When the Wall came down, Höcke was “17 and in the West,” but with this assertion he was serving an “Eastern emotion.” “I think that’s a really dangerous problem.”
Regarding the discussion about the possible founding of his party colleague Sahra Wagenknecht, Ramelow said: “If she wants to found a party, she should do it, but then she should do me a favor: leave the party as quickly as possible!”