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Daniel Günther: Prime Minister of the cold shower?
Photo: IMAGO/Eibner press photo/Marcel von Fehrn / IMAGO/Eibner
Schleswig-Holstein seems to be a land of cold showers.
A few weeks ago, during the debate on energy saving, Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP), who lives in Strande near Kiel, reported: »I mostly take cold showers.
In this respect I can recommend it to many people.
You're also fresh in the morning when you take a cold shower.«
Now Schleswig-Holstein's Prime Minister Daniel Günther is following suit.
According to his own statements, he has been taking an ice-cold shower in the morning for many years – even in winter.
"I only have to turn it a bit warmer when washing my hair, otherwise it doesn't foam," said the CDU politician to the "Bild" newspaper.
In order to save energy, he is also not going to the sauna at the moment.
His statement can certainly be understood as a tip against the Bavarian Prime Minister and Union partner Markus Söder (CSU).
When asked to what extent such personal changes in behavior could cope with the looming gas crisis in Germany, he told SPIEGEL: "The truth is not in the shower, but in the gas pipe."
Wealthy people should stop heating swimming pools
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck sometimes sees things differently.
The Greens politician, who also comes from Schleswig-Holstein – and even further north, namely from Flensburg – recently advised, for example: “Regularly defrost the freezer compartment, change the shower head or switch the lighting in offices to LED.” His hope in the fight against the energy crisis: If everyone doing a little something brings a lot in total.
In June, he revealed to SPIEGEL that he also wants to set a good example himself.
"I've significantly reduced my shower time," he said.
And: »I've never showered for five minutes in my life.
I'll take a quick shower.” Habeck didn't say anything about the temperature of the shower at the time.
Incidentally, CDU Prime Minister Günther did not give any other specific tips on how to save energy.
»Every citizen knows best what he could do without.
What's important to me is that the financially privileged should set a good example.« One possibility, he mentioned, was to no longer heat private swimming pools.
Günther also called on the federal government to abolish differences in electricity prices between northern and southern Germany.
“People from Schleswig-Holstein have to pay more for electricity than Bavarians because we feed more renewable energy into the grid and pay higher grid fees for it.
The federal government has to change that,” demanded Günther.
apr/dpa
