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Gay Chancellor? Merz triggers violent outrage with interview: Laschet reacts on TV - "That goes too far"

2020-09-24T12:09:41.187Z


Friedrich Merz warns that Germans will get used to a life without work in the Corona crisis. Many observers find this cynical. But the conservative delivered another upset.


Friedrich Merz warns that Germans will get used to a life without work in the Corona crisis.

Many observers find this cynical.

But the conservative delivered another upset.

  • CDU chairman Friedrich Merz made several sensitive statements in an interview on Sunday.

  • For his assessment that many Germans could get used to a life without work in the Corona crisis, he received strong criticism.

  • A passage in which Merz spoke about homosexuality not only angered coalition partner SPD - a high-ranking party friend also reacted extremely cautiously.

Update from September 24th:

Armin Laschet, a competitor of

Friedrich Merz

in the race for the CDU chairmanship,

reacted

cautiously to the latest allegations at Merz's address (see first report)

in the

ARD talk “maischberger.die woche”

.

"I think that in 2020 one should no longer discuss the question of who loves whom and how," he said.

In response to the question of whether a

gay could become chancellor

, a “yes” is actually sufficient, said Laschet, referring to the debate.

When asked by

Sandra Maischberger

, Laschet

did not want to make

an assessment of whether Merz's statement was awkward

.

"I don't judge it, I have found another answer for myself and I also understand how Jens Spahn reacts".

Spahn, Laschet's tandem partner in the CDU election campaign, had stated dryly, "Well, if the first association with homosexuality is legal issues or pedophilia, then you would rather ask Friedrich Merz, I would say."

Maischberger's question as to whether Merz's statement was

“homophobic”

was gently evaded by Laschet: “I don't think he's homophobic,” he instead issued a judgment on Merz as a person: “That goes too far.” On ARD Broadcast, however, Laschet criticized the SPD politician Karl Lauterbach - and, somewhat hidden, also of Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU).

Gay Chancellor?

Merz triggers violent indignation with an interview - Spahn reacts tellingly

First report: Berlin

- Over the

Corona summer

, the candidate without a high political office was pushed into the background - but

Friedrich Merz

* still wants to become

CDU boss

.

And probably also Chancellor.

But in the spotlight, the most conservative of the Christian Democratic presidency candidates has a hard time.

Two statements by Merz from a

picture

talk on Sunday evening caused some serious upset at the start of the week - and calls for an apology.

The topics covered were very different:

homosexuality

on the one hand,

unemployment and short-time work

on the other.

Even

party

friend

Jens Spahn

- together with

Armin Laschet

* also indirectly in the race for the place at the top of the party, Merz did not want to jump in on the first question.

Friedrich Merz flies interview around the ears: SPD general demands apology

Merz was asked in the format “The right questions” whether he would have any reservations if a

gay became Chancellor

today

.

"No," said Merz.

When asked whether that would be completely normal for him, he added: “The question of sexual orientation is none of the public's business.

As long as this is within the framework of the law and as long as it does not affect children - at this point, however, an absolute limit has been reached - it is not an issue for public discussion. "

"As long as it doesn't concern children ...", says Friedrich Merz when asked by @WeiseKai whether he would have reservations about a gay chancellor.

Here is the decisive passage in the video 👇 pic.twitter.com/2x25nRUr6U

- Paul Ronzheimer (@ronzheimer) September 21, 2020

SPD Vice Kevin Kühnert

, who had expressed himself in the past about his own homosexuality, criticized on Twitter on Monday: "This is how someone who can not hide that he can actually do nothing with the normalization of dealing with homosexuality." Merz 'Without being asked, the statement creates a chain of associations between homosexuality and child abuse,' he emphasized.

Anyone who would like to become Chancellor should speak a language that leaves no room for interpretation and false floors in the sensitive areas of anti-discrimination and equal rights for all people.

Friedrich Merz does not speak this language.

- Kevin Kühnert (@KuehniKev) September 21, 2020

SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil

commented: "Friedrich would like to be picked up from the last century." In an interview with the

Bild

he later added: "A clear apology is due." However, Merz had another question about the scenario of a gay Chancellor also emphasizes: "Not an issue for me at all, of course."

Friedrich Merz remains without support from Spahn: "You have to ask him more questions ..."

Merz justified himself to

the newspaper

Welt

on Monday.

Regarding the

criticism

that has arisen

, he said that this was "a maliciously constructed connection that does not appear in any of my statements".

The tolerance limit is "always exceeded when children are affected".

"I will say that in the future, even if one or the other apparently doesn't like it."

Health Minister Spahn

*, himself married to a man, said when asked what such a statement from a party colleague would trigger him: “Well, if the first association with homosexuality is legal issues or pedophilia, then you would rather ask Friedrich Merz I say."

Friedrich Merz speaks about unemployment: Minister accuses him of cynicism - and doubts economic competence

There was also fierce headwind for Merz's statement on the effects of

unemployment and short-time work in Corona times

.

"We have to be a bit careful that we don't all get used to the fact that we can live without work," said the former chairman of the supervisory board of the US asset manager Blackrock: "We have to go back to work."

In

his reaction,

Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD)

grabbed Merz directly on the honor, on the question of economic competence: Merz either “has no idea economically or is socially cynical.

Or both, ”said Heil in a tweet.

He defended the instrument of short-time working - it would secure "millions of jobs".

The passage also met with violent reactions from users of

social networks

.

"Every single day of it, I was afraid that I would still have a job at the end of the year," said one commentator, describing his perception of four months of short-time work.

“Merz is just cynical and privileged”.

In the conversation, Merz also expressed a controversial assessment of the refugees from the Greek disaster camp Moria.

(

dpa / fn / AFP

) *

Merkur.de is part of the Ippen digital network

.

List of rubric lists: © Christophe Gateau / dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-09-24

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