Green politicians about the CDU boss
Hofreiter: “Mr. Merz is the mainstay of this coalition”
7/10/2023 6:53 am
Behind the traffic light coalition are months with a lot of arguments. Nevertheless, even in difficult situations, you always pull yourself together. According to the Green MP Anton Hofreiter, this is also related to CDU leader Friedrich Merz.
The Greens politician Anton Hofreiter sees considerable hurdles for his party’s cooperation with the CDU in the federal government under their current leadership. “In principle, democratic parties should be able to talk to each other,” said Hofreiter when asked about the prospects for a black-green coalition after the next federal election. “But Mr. Merz is making it increasingly difficult to govern with him, for any democratic partner.” Hofreiter referred to statements by CDU party leader Friedrich Merz, who spoke of the Greens as the “main opponent” after the election of an AfD district administrator in Thuringia.
“Mr. Merz is the mainstay of this coalition,” said Hofreiter, referring to the cooperation between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP. “Because whenever things get really difficult, someone reliably says: ‘Would you rather govern with Friedrich Merz?’ And from my observation, even the FDP doesn’t want that.”
Hofreiter pleaded for the consequences of the high approval ratings for the AfD for the coalition. They must be of one mind and stand by compromises once they have been decided, instead of repeatedly arguing about the same topic. The Green politician also called for more consistent criminal prosecution. “There have been too many demonstrations in some regions of Germany where hate speech has been practiced with impunity. There are too many cases where hate speech and insults have taken place with impunity on social networks.”
Hofreiter cautiously optimistic for federal elections
He also formulated demands on the CDU and CSU. “The decent conservatives must ensure that no language is used that can be confused with that of the AfD.” At the same time, progressives need to show respect for “decent conservatives”. Hofreiter named the Prime Ministers of Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia as examples: “Daniel Günther, Hendrik Wüst come to mind immediately. Or the former Prime Minister of Hesse, Volker Bouffier. He’s a real conservative, but in my experience he’s a decent one Type.”
Hofreiter was cautiously optimistic about his party’s chances for the chancellorship in the next federal election, which is scheduled to take place in 2025. “It’s a bit daring to speculate about this two years before a federal election. But of course we have a chance.” He assumes that the decision on his party’s candidate will be made in the spring of the election year. Despite the headwind in the polls, the Greens are “surprisingly stable”, explained Hofreiter. The party was there most recently between 14 and 15 percent. “Of course it could look better, but who would have bet in the spring of 2021 that Scholz would become chancellor? One should be careful not to think in the eternal present.”