Spicy Hofreiter question: "He's an expert, are you too?" - Lanz takes Özdemir through the wringer

Created: 2022-02-04 13:01

The talk show on “Markus Lanz” (ZDF).

© ZDF (Screenshot)

Green Minister Cem Özdemir takes a critical look at animal husbandry in Germany in “Markus Lanz”.

But the ZDF talker asks a tricky question before the content.

Hamburg – New Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens*) speaks to “Markus Lanz” about his new post and indicates what he has planned for his term of office.

Talkmaster Markus Lanz takes the internal party fight for office between Özdemir and party friend Anton Hofreiter as an opportunity for the first probing questions.

"I don't have to compare myself to him," Özdemir tries to take the wind out of Lanz's sails - but he doesn't give up.

"Yes, you have to," says the host, after all, the Upper Bavarian MP Hofreiter* is an agricultural expert.

Özdemir blocks: He doesn't have to be a proven expert to fill a ministerial post, rather his role is about listening, bringing people together "and creating a balance." 

Cem Özdemir on "Markus Lanz" about organic factory farming: "It's a perverted system"

The group will then focus on the topic of organic farming in detail.

journalist Anne Kunze points out that organic products have long followed the principles of industrial agriculture.

The consequences of these principles can be guessed at from the images that the “Markus Lanz” editors then import.

To see: chickens that look sick, tightly crammed together in a narrow stall.

Moderator Lanz grabs the horror.

"That's not our idea of ​​organic!" he says.

Özdemir describes this form of agriculture as part of a "perverted system" and says that this is one of the reasons why the Greens wanted to occupy the Ministry of Agriculture.

In the past ten years, he reports, the number of pigs in Germany has remained the same, while the number of pig farmers has halved: "These are simply dramatic numbers!"

"Markus Lanz" debates organic food - Minister of Agriculture Özdemir: "We need a price tag"

Özdemir therefore sees the goal of his work as Minister of Agriculture in “putting this system on a new footing”.

He energetically calculates that for every euro that consumers spend on pork, only 21 cents go to the producers.

In the 1950s it was 50 percent, says Özdemir.

According to the Greens, there is only one solution to stop this trend: “It needs a price tag.

It won't happen otherwise."

"Markus Lanz" - these were his guests on February 2nd:

• Cem Özdemir (Greens)

  – politician

• Anne Kunze

  – journalist

• Christiane Florin

  – journalist

• Manfred Lütz

  – psychiatrist

Moderator Lanz asks whether this makes meat more expensive, which Özdemir initially only indirectly affirms: He refers to a study by Greenpeace, which found that 80 percent of Germans are willing to pay more for meat - provided that the better husbandry conditions for it animals ensure.

"There are no junk prices with me," Özdemir* clarifies.

He is aware that he is not only making friends with his new attitude.

Özdemir speaks of "powerful opponents" and "some strong lobbies who want to prevent this".

"Moral ends on the shelf," suspects host Lanz, and asks Özdemir about the consequences of higher prices for the citizens.

Özdemir believes that the current situation is the worst solution in the long run: “Such a system is the most expensive system.

Because it creates catastrophic climate costs, because it creates catastrophic reports on wildlife conservation.”

Germany's agricultural and socio-political turnaround?

Özdemir on "Markus Lanz": "It's a grenade mess, this system"

So when Lanz realized that soon not everyone would be able to afford meat, Özdemir intervened again.

"That's not true!" he reproaches the moderator and points to the possibilities of social policy to compensate for price increases.

Conceivable models are direct payments to farmers in the cent range or an increase in VAT from 7 to 19 percent for meat products*.

In the future, social assistance rates should also not be based on the lowest discounter prices.

However, Özdemir first wants to "look at everything" in order to be able to make a decision afterwards.

“That means that others in the cabinet should solve your problem?” Talkmaster Lanz asks provocatively, which the Minister of Agriculture vehemently denies.

He is part of a government that came to unite climate protection and social justice instead of playing them off against each other.

Media professional Özdemir looks into the camera for a moment and addresses the audience directly: "Don't fall for those who are now saying they want to make the meat more expensive and that should hit you.

Those who say that are not eating the meat they are talking about.

But these are the people, they eat completely differently, they shop completely differently, they have completely different salary brackets.

This is a grenade mess, this system.”

"Markus Lanz" - The conclusion of the show

“Markus Lanz” is dedicated to the Munich abuse report on the Catholic Church on Wednesday evening.

The journalist Christiane Florin and the theologian Manfred Lütz speak with talk show host Markus Lanz about the allegations of abuse surrounding priest Peter H. and discuss the question of how far the emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.

as the archbishop at the time shared responsibility for the events.

Afterwards, Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (Greens) and journalist Anne Kunze will discuss “the organic system” with host Lanz.

They critically analyze the situation in animal husbandry, which is the reason for Özdemir to change the existing policy.

His appeal to consumers: "I need pressure from consumers to say: We want to change that."