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Ex-Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser: Internals on the plane
Photo: Peter Kneffel/ picture alliance/dpa
Former Siemens boss Joe Kaeser is known for his controversial tweets.
Now, after a flight, he has complained on the platform about members of the Bundestag who are said to be speaking too loudly – and in doing so has drawn the ire of some politicians.
"I'm sitting on the plane to Munich right now in the middle of the MPs, who are audibly happy about the weekend ... and at the same time exchanging internals across the aisle," Kaeser wrote on Twitter.
He's just working out how many of them he's financing with his income taxes.
“Don't know if this money couldn't be better spent.
For higher salaries for nurses, police officers... and many people who REALLY are there for the citizens every day," Kaeser continued.
FDP politician corrects
Kaeser thought he could spot both CSU MPs and an FDP politician on the plane, including a former columnist.
Thomas Sattelberger (FDP), who promptly demanded a correction from the former Siemens boss, was apparently addressed.
»What was flatter, others may judge your bow to Trump and Putin or my essays in Manager magazine.
But I refuse to make the dishonorable claim that I exchanged internals.
The CSUers may have done that, I sat in my seat in silence,” wrote Sattelberger.
Kaeser, who now chairs the supervisory boards of Siemens energy and Daimler Truck Holding, visited Putin at the end of 2019 as part of a delegation of top German managers and was repeatedly criticized for it.
In the run-up to the 2021 federal election, Kaeser had spoken out in favor of the Green Party candidate for chancellor, Annalena Baerbock.
It would have the "greatest credibility for a sustainable and long-term renewal" and stand for a socio-ecological market economy that Germany would need.
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