Complaint about “money for doing nothing”
Left leader calls Lindner’s speech “humanly disgusting”
January 16, 2024, 10:30 a.m
In front of the farmers, Finance Minister Lindner presents himself as a kind of country child who can also clean out a stable. He praises the “hard-working middle class” and criticizes people who “get money for doing nothing.” Left leader Wissler is outraged and demands Lindner’s resignation.
Left leader Janine Wissler called for the resignation of Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner in response to his speech at the farmers’ demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate on Monday. “A federal minister who stands in front of protesting farmers and doesn’t make a single suggestion about their concerns, but instead agitates against the unemployed and refugees, is not only rightly booed, he is intolerable as a minister,” she told “Spiegel”.
At the farmers’ demonstration, Lindner defended the cut in the diesel subsidy for farmers, but also said: “It annoys me that I have to talk to you, the hard-working middle class, about cuts, while on the other side in our country people are getting money for doing nothing.” He then spoke about cuts in benefits for asylum seekers and citizens’ benefits. We can no longer ignore when people refuse to work for money.
Instead of dealing with the demands and criticism of the traffic light’s failed agricultural policy, Lindner is leading a diversionary debate, criticized Wissler. Lindner tries to play people off against each other and incite them. “This is politically irresponsible and humanly disgusting,” said Wissler. “Anyone who promotes social division and loss of solidarity in this situation in order to distract from the failure of the traffic lights has completely lost their compass.”
The speech at the farmers’ protests was another low point. “As with the rejection of climate money, Lindner is targeting benefit recipients,” said Wissler. On Sunday it became known that Lindner no longer wants to pay out the promised climate money in this legislative period.
Lindner also attacked the climate activists in his speech to the farmers: “What a difference between the farmers and the climate stickers: The climate stickers smeared the Brandenburg Gate. The farmers honored the Brandenburg Gate,” he said to the farmers.
At the same time, the FDP leader tried to emphasize his closeness to nature and the farming community. “I come from the Bergisches Land and grew up next to forests, meadows and fields,” said Lindner. He’s a hunter and when he’s finished cleaning out the horse stable, he’s already exhausted. So he knows how hard the farmers work. However, they still treated him with whistles and boos during his performance.