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Merkel will leave the Bundestag on September 7, 2021
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JOHN MACDOUGALL v AFP
The chairman of the conservative Values Union, Max Otte, has sharply attacked former Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"The lady was GDR through and through, she was an apparatchik, she was a functionary, she was completely socialized in socialism," said Otte on Monday evening about the long-standing CDU chairwoman.
»To this day it is still incomprehensible to me that an entire country let itself be deceived by her – for 16 years or more.
It is an unbelievable masterpiece what she has accomplished and it is a work of destruction.«
Otte related this to the energy transition, the euro crisis, migration and the corona pandemic.
The Value Union describes itself as a conservative grassroots movement within the CDU and CSU with around 4,000 members.
It is not one of the official party organizations of the Union, such as the Women's Union or the Seniors' Union.
Otte supported the so-called walks by critics of the corona measures and expressed the hope that many more people would take to the streets.
"This country is drifting into undemocratic conditions," said Otte.
Freedom of expression is restricted.
»We are in a cultural revolution.«
The right-wing economist Otte was elected chairman of the Value Union in May 2021.
Numerous politicians were outraged: SPD politician Lars Klingbeil, for example, described Otte's election as a "putsch by AfD loyalists".
Han-Georg Maassen: »... then you are excluded from the democratic discourse altogether«
Otte's most recent statements were made in an online discussion entitled: "The CDU in the opposition - fateful years of a people's party".
The former President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maassen, also took part in the event.
He criticized the fact that critics' arguments were ignored: »There is an increase.
First you are a swaggerer, then a lateral thinker, then a right-wing populist, then a right-wing radical, then you come to be a fascist, a Nazi, and then you are an anti-Semite,” said Maassen, among other things.
"I think if you're an anti-Semite in Germany, that's the most serious accusation you can make in this country, then you're excluded from democratic discourse altogether."
Entrepreneur Moritz Hunzinger, who was also involved in the discussion, complained, among other things, that too many journalists with a migration background could be seen in public service broadcasts: "When I look at the morning magazine to warm up, we now have over half of the faces who definitely have an immigrant background.
That's too big for me.«
aar/dpa
