The resigned German Chancellor Angela Merkel (67) is startled by harsh criticism in her pension. “The lady was GDR through and through, she was an apparatchik, she was a functionary, she was completely socialized in socialism.” That says Max Otte (57), chairman of the conservative value union, an unofficial movement within the CDU and CSU. It has around 4000 members.
According to the “Spiegel”, Otte referred to the energy transition, the euro crisis, migration and the pandemic in his rant. Otte: «To this day I still cannot believe that an entire country let itself be deceived by her – for 16 years or more. It’s an incredible masterpiece what she’s done there, and it’s a work of destruction.”
Otte made these statements in an online discussion entitled “The CDU in the opposition – fateful years of a people’s party”.
Criticism also from Maassen
The former President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maassen (59), also took part in the event, which included free speech. He criticized that arguments from critics would be hidden. “There is an increase. First you are a swaggerer, then a lateral thinker, then a right-wing populist, then a right-wing radical, then you come to the fascist, Nazi, and then you are the anti-Semite,” said Maassen, among other things.
He also pointed out: “I think if you’re an anti-Semite in Germany, that’s the most serious accusation you can make in this country, then you’re excluded from the democratic discourse at all.”
The economist Otte has been chairman of the Union of Values since May 2021. He is considered right-wing conservative. SPD politician Lars Klingenbeil (43) described his election as a “putsch by AfD loyalists”. (gf)