CDU leader and Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet has criticized the latest statements by CDU Bundestag candidate Hans-Georg Maaßen.
Berlin - Without naming the former President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Laschet said, according to information from the German Press Agency from participants on Monday in the online deliberations of the CDU board in Berlin, statements from direct candidates in southern Thuringia are not helpful.
He was quoted as saying: "Such debates harm us." At the same time, Laschet warned that polls could change again in a flash.
In the past few weeks, the Union had again clearly set itself apart from the Greens as the second strongest force in opinion polls - after the Greens had previously been in front of the CDU / CSU.
In connection with the criticism of Maassen's statements, Laschet criticized that “the second row of the Greens” had an aggressive tone that reminded him of that of ex-US President Donald Trump.
He expects the political competitor not to work with such methods.
At the same time, according to participants, Laschet emphasized that there would be no cooperation and no negotiations between the Union and the AfD after the federal election in September.
The CDU chief was quoted as saying: “We are very clear about that.
I expect every direct candidate to stick to it. "
Maaßen is a direct candidate for the CDU in a constituency in southern Thuringia.
At the weekend he caused indignation among others among the Greens and the SPD by once again questioning the political balance of reporting in the public media.
SPD general secretary Lars Klingbeil told the “Tagesspiegel”: “Another anti-democratic failure of CDU Bundestag candidate Hans-Georg Maaßen, once again CDU chief Armin Laschet is silent.” The impression arises that Maaßen's behavior was caused by Laschet is not only tolerated, but wanted.
Green parliamentary group leader Anton Hofreiter told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung": "Armin Laschet's silence on this CDU candidate for the next federal election is unbearable."
