The magazine Tichys insight had chosen SPD politician Sawsan Chebli as a target.
Dorothee Bär reacts and sets off an avalanche.
There was initially criticism of Merz and Spahn.
The well-known Ludwig Erhard Foundation wants above all to promote the social market economy.
However, the association is currently struggling with a sexism scandal - the reason for this is an article in the paper by chairman Roland Tichy.
After Dorothee Bär (CSU), other politicians also criticized Tichy, who wants to give up his office.
But there are other sensitive questions.
Berlin
- The
Ludwig Erhard Foundation
is actually a worthy institution: founded by the namesake itself in 1967, the association wants to
strengthen
the
social market economy
.
But the foundation is currently engaged in an extremely unpleasant debate - it's about sexism.
And the election of the chairman.
Now there are apparently personnel consequences:
According to a report in the
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the
foundation boss Roland Tichy
no longer
wants to stand
for re-election.
CSU Minister of State Dorothee Bär
had previously
caused a stir.
She canceled her membership.
Ludwig Erhard Foundation: Sexist attack on Chebli at Tichy?
Dorothee Bär is the first to pull the rip cord
The reason for the dispute are sexist statements about the
SPD politician Sawsan Chebli
in the monthly magazine
Tichys Insight
.
It read: “What speaks for Sawsan?
(...) Friend journalists have so far only been able to determine the G-point as a plus point in the special democratic party of old men. ”Chebli wants to run for the Bundestag in 2021.
In the association, which was made up of a large number of
top politicians
and well-known
economists
and
business representatives
, it was initially only Bär who pulled the rip cord.
"Such failures are unbearable and absolutely incompatible with the goals of the foundation," she said on Wednesday that she was leaving.
Ludwig Erhard's
request today would certainly not be the
degradation of women
, but the promotion of female careers, she found.
“If the foundation has a chairman under whose leadership such texts are published, I cannot and will not support them further.
It shows a socio-political mindset that I don't accept. ”
Chebli
thanked Bär via Twitter for their“ clear stance ”and wrote:“ We can no longer accept sexism.
But we also need the men who pull together with us. "
Merz and Spahn in focus: Scandal around the Ludwig Erhard Foundation - CDU top people react with a delay
However, it took a while before men followed suit.
On Wednesday, violent allegations were circulated on Twitter against the other members of the foundation - including
CDU chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz *
,
Health Minister Jens Spahn
* (CDU) and
ex-railway boss Hartmut Mehdorn
.
“Everyone else remains seated and is silent.
That gives a deep insight, ”judged one user.
I once marked all the members of the #LudwigErhardStiftung who stood up against #Tichy insulting @SawsanChebli sexistically in the worst possible way: @DoroBaer.
Everyone else remains seated and is silent.
That lets you see deeply.
https://t.co/IzoL71Ey3X pic.twitter.com/MC9BO6KMWQ
- C. Storch (@Storch_i) September 23, 2020
On Thursday, Spahn and the chairman of the SME Union,
Carsten Linnemann
, followed
suit
.
With immediate effect, they suspended their membership in the Erhard Foundation.
“The Ludwig Erhard Foundation is an institution with a long tradition and is committed to the legacy of its namesake.
Unfortunately, for some time now there has been a culture of debate among leading representatives of the Foundation that does not live up to this responsibility.
That damages Ludwig Erhard's reputation.
We have therefore decided to suspend our membership until further notice. "
Tichy leaves - critics after sexism scandal nevertheless dissatisfied
According to the
FAZ
,
Bundesbank
President
Jens Weidmann
, who is also a member of the foundation, also
criticized Tichy
.
In a letter to the other members of the foundation, Weidmann argues that the “further development of free-market and free-democratic thinking” also includes “a climate of debate of mutual respect, not only within the foundation, but also beyond.”
So
Tichy
is
now
retreating - a step that
Merz described
in a tweet as the "only right decision".
+
Gerhard Schröder came: Roland Tichy at the presentation of the Ludwig Erhard Prize to the retired Federal Chancellor in 2016
© picture alliance / dpa / Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert
However, it remains to be seen whether the dispute is over.
The former
CDU general secretary Ruprecht Polenz,
for example, asked on Twitter that the foundation should not wait until the chairmanship election in October, but rather "separate from Tichy completely".
Other observers asked even more fundamental questions: “Why is Roland Tichy chairman of the Ludwig Erhard Foundation?” Asked
Spiegel
journalist Mathieu von Rohr in the short message service dryly.
Roland Tichy: Controversial journalist is probably presiding over the Ludwig Erhard Foundation - probing questions online
Tichy himself describes his magazine as a "liberal-conservative opinion magazine".
The
magazine and the online platform
tichyseinblick.de
are
required
reading
for many politicians from the
right-wing populist spectrum
.
It is to be expected that a debate about
freedom of expression will
break out
now as well
.
Political advisor
Erik Flügge
, an SPD member, expressed a clear judgment on Thursday: "Tichy has every right to publish and to be politically active," he emphasized.
“At the same time, however, every institution has the right to say, 'Your publications and your political activities no longer suit us.'
It calls itself freedom of expression and conscience. ”However, Flügge had to be reproached for not having responded to the allegations itself.
(
dpa / fn
)