Loss of prosperity and “unfeminist” 40-hour weeks? With Markus Lanz, Amthor first surprises with his introduction - then it becomes irritating.
Hamburg – Lazy generation, loss of prosperity, recession? Germany's economy is weakening - the reasons are varied, as are the opinions about it. Markus Lanz also discussed this in his talk show on the night from Wednesday to Thursday with his guests, CDU politician Philipp Amthor and Green Youth leader Katharina Stolla. “A pairing that has it all,” announced the moderator directly. And he was right.
Particularly in focus of the talk: the discussions about a possible four-day week in Germany. Stolla, for example, had already said that sticking to the 40-hour week would be “unfeminist” and that a reduction in working hours would be positive. A polarizing statement to say the least. Not surprisingly, CDU man Amthor, who is more of a career animal than a workaholic, has a different opinion. Before he announced this, the Bundestag politician made a short preliminary speech. And this can at least be seen as surprising.
“What’s wrong with you?” – Lanz is completely surprised by Amthor’s introduction
Amthor, who claims that “effortless prosperity” is a green “dream category”, is more of the opinion that the four-day week only harms Germany. Lanz also alludes to the fact that “this country is built on hard work.” Amthor confirms that he too was outraged by Stolla's statements at the time about the four-day week. Then he starts a mini preface. Since he assumes that there will be some controversy in the talk, he wants to start with a “personal, understanding sentence”: “One thing must be clear to us in all this discussion: life is more than just work. Work is a means to an end for a successful life.” A statement that seems to make Lanz completely surprised and say “What’s wrong with you?”
The CDU politician goes even further, calling the idea that the world of work can be stressful “understandable” from a personal perspective. Lanz takes the ball humorously and wants to know directly whether Friedrich Merz knows that Amthor thinks that way. He even goes one step further and asks whether this will be preparation for a black-green coalition. Then comes the expected “but” – and Amthor falls back into his usual patterns.
Less work equals less prosperity? At Lanz, Amthor mentions alternative incentives to the four-day week
The discussion has “two levels”. Personally there is understanding. Politically and economically, however, it must be clear that one cannot act from a comfortable position. The focus is on the well-being of Germany. And the country is in an international location competition. Hence Amthor's radical counter-response: “Less work means less prosperity for us.” Great wishes for the state - Amthor cites the increasing number of social benefits, more focus on education and opportunities for advancement - can only be implemented if Germany remains economically strong. This country “cannot afford” a loss of prosperity at the moment, said Amthor.
Nevertheless, he makes admissions and says that his party is quite prepared to address proposals for more flexibility within weekly working hours. He also brings up other suggestions, such as tax exemption for overtime for full-time employees or active pensions for people who want to earn extra money in old age - examples that only make Green Youth leader Stolla shake her head. Opinions vary widely when it comes to rewarding overtime.
“Unfeminist” 40-hour week: Green Youth leader polarizes Lanz
Lanz, who recently criticized SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert, brings up another quote from Stolla: “Why should I work myself to death in a broken country if I don't even have the prospect of a secure pension?” And that too With reference to Amthor, the Green Party first addresses the reward for overtime. “More than half of overtime in Germany is not paid,” she clarifies. Instead of “throwing out ideas” about how more overtime could be made attractive, she would like “suggestions that have an idea of how to get this overtime paid intelligently.” Such tax relief for overtime has been introduced in France but the volume of work has not increased. For them, “a suggestion that lacks any evidence.”
Shortly afterwards, things get irritating again. This is ensured by the polarizing statement that a 40-hour week is “unfeminist”. There is “great potential that is unused” in the labor market, explains Stolla. Many women with a household and children would not be able to do full-time work. Fixing this is important in order to combat the shortage of skilled workers. Lanz asks, irritated. Stolla explains that “an incredible number of women” work part-time or not at all. The moderator wants to know how many “unbelievably many women” there are. A question to which Stolla does not have a precise answer.
When the Green politician didn't answer Lanz's question, the moderator blurted out: "You have to know roughly that."
“You have to know roughly that,” Lanz blurts out. Stolla can only answer that it “comprises a total of six million people” and a large proportion of them are women. “We can read again what the exact numbers are, that doesn’t make the roast fat,” Stolla dismisses irritably – and receives an incredulously laughing “I think so” from Lanz. “I'm really flabbergasted and amazed,” Amthor also joined in, who was also annoyed by the “make-a-wish” idea that reduced working hours could solve the skilled worker problem in Germany.
The talk opponents can hardly come to a common denominator this evening. But they confirm Lanz's opening sentence wonderfully: “This pairing has it all.”
(han)