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Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet
Photo: ADAM BERRY / AFP
SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil reacted with derision to the plagiarism allegations against Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet.
"I'm curious to see what will happen to Laschet after his apology," Klingbeil told SPIEGEL.
He sees a new dispute between the Union parties: "Markus Söder is distancing himself more and more clearly from his own candidate and is obviously no longer interested in taking responsibility for Laschet's mistakes."
On Friday, after a plagiarism hunter informed him, Laschet had errors in his book “The Rising Republic.
Immigration as an Opportunity «from 2009 and apologized.
He will immediately arrange for the book to be checked, he told the dpa news agency.
Klingbeil said the difference between the candidates was becoming increasingly clear: "While the Greens and the CDU stumble through their campaign and are now hiding their candidates for Chancellor, Olaf Scholz convinces with his objectivity and experience in the race for the Chancellery."
In the plagiarism affair surrounding the Green Chancellor candidate, Annalena Baerbock, the Union dealt heavily in some cases, according to Klingbeil: "It remains to be seen whether the CDU and CSU will apply the same standards to their own candidate for chancellor or duck back."
Carsten Schneider, First Parliamentary Managing Director of the SPD parliamentary group, attacked the CDU leader: "Armin Laschet is now again providing material for debates about personal misconduct," Schneider told SPIEGEL.
At the same time, Laschet called for a factual debate in the election campaign.
"Unfortunately, he has so far nothing to offer for the discussion about future issues in Germany," says Schneider.
"If people talk about his sloppiness in his book, he shouldn't be surprised."
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