Ramelow about Merz
“The AfD is kicking itself”
September 29, 2023, 2:43 a.m
CDU leader Merz does not receive too much backlash from his own party for his populist statements about dentures for refugees, and even North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Wüst defends him. Thuringia’s Prime Minister Ramelow expressed himself more clearly.
Thuringia’s left-wing Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow has accused the Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz of doing the AfD’s business with his statements about the dental treatment of rejected asylum seekers. “The AfD is kicking itself, feels confirmed and even supported by the confirmation of its clichés,” he told the editorial network Germany. Anyone who “serves resentment distracts from the actual problems of medical care,” he added, referring to the growing concentration of medical practices in the hands of large companies.
In a discussion about migration policy on the Welt television channel, the CDU leader said: “They’ll go crazy, the people, when they see that 300,000 asylum seekers have been rejected, they won’t leave the country, they’ll get the full benefits, they’ll get the full medical care. They “We’re sitting at the doctor’s and having our teeth redone, and the German citizens next door can’t get any appointments.” The SPD and the Greens reacted indignantly and accused Merz of populism. Medical representatives contradicted his account. In fact, asylum seekers – including tolerated people whose application was rejected – only receive acute medical care for the first 18 months, but then have almost full access to the health system.
No loud contradiction in the Union
In the Union, Merz received more support. North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst explained that Merz only wanted to draw attention to the general burden on the state, society and social systems caused by the sharp increase in irregular migration. Others, like Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther, remained silent. The Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag initially cut the controversial statement out of a video shared on X, formerly Twitter. She later distributed the full quote.
The former chairman of the CDU Basic Values Commission, the historian Andreas Rödder, agreed with Merz. What the party leader is talking about is “the toxic combination from which our country is suffering: the excessive demands caused by uncontrolled migration plus the growing deficits in our infrastructure. In this respect, he is completely right,” Rödder told “Welt”. “Friedrich Merz’s problem is not the excitement of the left, but (are) the snipers in his own party.”