How are the parties in the federal government sorted by the election scandal in Thuringia? Green leader Habeck had committed to further cooperation with the Union - and is now receiving harsh criticism.
Berlin (dpa) - In the debate about the government crisis in Thuringia, SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich Greens leader Robert Habeck accused small-scale election tactics.
"After the dramatic events in Thuringia, Mister Habeck reacted particularly electorally when he immediately told his party not to put aside the possibilities of coalitioning with the CDU and FDP," said Mützenich of the German press Agency in Berlin. "It's more of a small-scale arithmetic consideration."
After the election scandal in Thuringia, Habeck had praised CDU boss Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer for her demarcation from the AfD. Habeck also warned his party against general cancellations to the CDU and FDP at the federal level: "If the Greens and other parties begin to exclude cooperation with the Union, we will drive the Union into the arms of the AfD," he said in an interview.
Mützenich emphasized: "In Thuringia, the basis of the German constitutional structure, the constitutional consensus, has been attacked, namely that one does not work with ethnic parties who disregard the Basic Law because they want another republic." Given this dimension of events, he was surprised "that this was answered by one or the other statement from the Green Party with a very small coin".
The CDU, FDP and AfD had elected the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich as head of government in Thuringia and thus triggered a storm of protest. Kemmerich then resigned, in the wake of the turmoil, CDU chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer also announced her withdrawal.
Mützenich asked the Green leader to name a coalition preference in good time before the next election. "Robert Habeck must make a clear statement before the next federal election: How can the change he wants in the Federal Republic of Germany succeed?" Habeck would have to position himself clearly at some point - "and shouldn't philosophize between one or the other," said Mützenich. The SPD, which has ruled the Union for years, is striving for an alliance with the Greens and the Left for the future.
"The SPD in Thuringia said quickly: Clear conditions can only be created with new elections," said Mützenich. "And despite a certain risk, because in such an exceptional situation, the ruling party could strengthen the left and perhaps the right margin on the other side."
