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How Merkel helped the AfD to triumph

2022-06-15T15:45:10.880Z


Did Angela Merkel ever lose control of her emotions? Is it business as usual for Johnson? What is Scholz planning before his trip to Kyiv? This is the situation on Wednesday evening.


1.

Merkel's emotions

It was a turning point in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany when, after the state elections in Thuringia in 2019,

Thomas Kemmerich

was elected Prime Minister of the Free State in February of the following year.

The coalition of Left, SPD and Greens no longer had a majority.

But Kemmerich, who got just five percent with his FDP, certainly not.

He was elected anyway – with the votes of the FDP, CDU and AfD.

A novelty.

The outrage was huge.

In the collective memory will remain how the then parliamentary group leader of the left in the state parliament,

Susanne Hennig-Wellsow

, threw a bouquet of flowers at Kemmerich's feet, like Thuringia's AfD boss

Björn Höcke

bowed down in front of the new one in the State Chancellery - and how the Chancellor positioned herself on the process.

Enlarge image

Thuringia's short-term Prime Minister Kemmerich (left), would-be Prime Minister Höcke (not only here on the right), 2020

Photo: Bodo Schackow/ dpa

Former Chancellor

Angela Merkel

was always considered to be very controlled and deliberative.

Better to say nothing than the wrong thing.

Just don't show emotions - and if so, nonverbally at best.

In this case, she allowed herself to be carried away into a statement that was understandable and comprehensible from the point of view of many, but which she would probably have refrained from making.

The chancellor intervened in domestic politics from South Africa – another novelty – and spoke of a “bad day for democracy”:

»The election of the prime minister was a unique process that broke with a basic conviction for the CDU and also for me, that no majorities should be won with the help of the AfD.

Since this was foreseeable in the constellation in which the third ballot was held, one has to say that this process is unforgivable and that the result must therefore be reversed.«

A Chancellor calls for an election to be reversed?

A treat for the AfD, which filed two lawsuits.

One was directed against Merkel's statement, the other against the publication of Merkel's statement, including on official government websites.

As a result, the AfD saw its right to equal opportunities in political competition violated.

Did Angela Merkel, as chancellor, actually violate the principle of neutrality by calling Kemmerich's election "unforgivable"?

Yes, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled today.

The AfD celebrates accordingly.

Its boss ,

Tino Chrupalla

, said today was "a good day for democracy" and that Merkel's statements had "more to do with dictatorial expressions of opinion abroad."

Says the right one.

However, the recent elections in neighboring Saxony showed how the AfD can be crushed without any reversal of elections.

Many mayors and district administrators were newly elected there last Sunday.

The AfD had announced full-bodied that it wanted to appoint the first district administrator nationwide in the Free State.

But as things stand, the party seems to be left empty-handed.

  • Read more here:

    Merkel violated the rights of the AfD with a statement about the Kemmerich election

2.

Johnsons has a run

Britain's Prime Minister

Boris Johnson

has had a tough time these days.

First he fought off a vote of no confidence from his own party.

Then his plan to fly refugees who want to apply for asylum on the island to Rwanda so that they can apply for asylum there failed.

Johnson had previously concluded a corresponding agreement with Rwanda's President Paul Kagame - for a small fee of the equivalent of 144 million euros, of course.

But since Rwanda is anything but a democratic country where the president suppresses freedom of expression, the deal was controversial from the start.

Prince Charles

described the Rwanda asylum procedure as "appalling", the bishops of the Church of England spoke in an open letter of a "disgrace to the nation".

The European Court of Human Rights also saw it that way: it asked Great Britain not to fly an Iraqi asylum seeker to Rwanda for the time being.

The court's preliminary decision was made shortly before the man was to be taken to the East African country with other people.

Enlarge image

Prime Minister Johnson (center) with Home Secretary Patel (right) in the British Parliament.

Photo: HANDOUT/AFP

But the Johnson government doesn't seem to care, her country will stick to the controversial deportation flights to Rwanda despite the intervention of the European Court of Human Rights, said Interior Minister

Priti Patel

.

"We will not be discouraged".

Her colleague, Labor Minister

Thérèse Coffey

, also does not want to accept defeat in a European court.

"I'm sure we will appeal the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights, because British judges have previously ruled that the flights can take off."

In another matter, too, Johnson drove a higher authority into the parade: Because of the ongoing Northern Ireland dispute, the EU today initiated proceedings against Great Britain.

A post-Brexit dispute ensued over how and where goods coming into Northern Ireland from the UK should be checked, a protocol that governs this has been ignored by the UK to this day.

"This is a clear violation of international law," complains Commission Vice President

Maroš Šefčovič

.

But the more upset people get about Johnson, the greater his secret joy might be.

Because basically he is only consistently pursuing his policy, both with the EU dispute and with his Rwanda deal.

»Boris Johnson has always succeeded as a populist where he was criticized and others have no solutions.

And then he had bad solutions,” judged the migration

expert Gerald Knauss

in the “Tagesthemen”.

And despite the sum total of all his bad resolutions, Johnson remains in office to this day.

Low performance as a career guarantee.

  • Read more about the consequences of Brexit here: EU initiates proceedings against Great Britain over Northern Ireland dispute

3.

Scholz' briefcase

The question of whether Chancellor

Olaf Scholz

will now travel to the Ukraine occupied the Germans at times at least as much as the question of whether Germany can become world champion at the upcoming World Cup in Qatar.

Well, in yesterday's Nations League game against Italy, the kickers won 5: 2, and according to the German self-image they are already world champions.

Scholz has now made up his mind to travel to Kyiv.

But is he a winner with that?

The rather demure Hamburger said recently that he didn't want to go there for a photo shoot.

So the big question now is, why then?

What will he bring with him?

Scholz announced that he would “only travel to Ukraine if he could bring a concrete offer with him,” said

Anton Hofreiter

, chairman of the Bundestag Committee on European Union Affairs and secret defense spokesman for the Greens .

"I'm assuming he'll keep his promise." (More here.) FDP General Secretary

Bijan Djir-Sarai

said, "It would be nice if what we decided in the Bundestag, i.e. the delivery of heavy weapons, would finally be implemented." In the budget debate, the chancellor had announced multiple rocket launchers and air defense systems.

According to a report, Germany wants to supply Ukraine with three Mars II rocket launchers.

Enlarge image

Chancellor Scholz: Does the EU candidate status for Ukraine fit in the briefcase?

Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa

But does Ukraine really only expect guns, or doesn't it also expect some affection?

Perhaps in the form of a promise that the country will soon be granted EU candidate status?

My colleague Maximilian Popp writes in his comment before Scholz' trip that both are necessary.

"The EU states must resist the temptation to pressure Ukraine into a compromise that will entail major losses to their territory," Max said. "Western politicians almost fell over themselves with declarations of solidarity for Ukraine in the first weeks of the war.

The governments in Berlin, Paris and Washington have to prove that they still show solidarity even if it costs them something.”

How disillusioned Ukraine is can also be seen in the recent statements by President

Zelenskyy's advisers.

"You can't fight with promises, they don't help on the battlefield,"

Mykhailo Podoliak

told SPIEGEL.

Podoljak had announced a huge need for weapons on Twitter: 1,000 howitzers, 300 rocket launchers, 500 tanks, 2,000 armored vehicles, 1,000 drones.

Advisor

Oleksiy Arestovych also

said on the expected visit of Olaf Scholz, French President

Emmanuel Macron

and Italian Prime Minister

Mario Draghi:

'I'm afraid they'll try to reach a Minsk III.

They will say that we need to end the war that is causing food problems and economic problems, that Russians and Ukrainians are dying, that we need to save Mr Putin's face, that the Russians made mistakes, that we need to forgive them and give them a chance must give to return to world society.«

After all Scholz's procrastination and hesitation in the past, it's hard to imagine that Podoljak and Arestovych are completely wrong with their forecast.

  • Read the full interview with Zelenskyi's advisor here: »Promises don't help on the battlefield« 

And here is more news and background information on the war in Ukraine:

  • Why the grain blockade is so hard to solve:

    Russia's lockdown of Ukraine's ports could plunge the world into a hunger crisis.

    Negotiations about a sea corridor are not very promising - and there is little time for a military option.

  • Economists expect even less growth and more inflation because of the Ukraine war:

    Russia's attack on Ukraine is severely weakening the economic recovery after the corona crisis in Germany.

    Several economic institutes have lowered their forecasts significantly.

  • "They're firing at us with everything they've got":

    The Ukrainian police are evacuating civilians from the combat zone at the risk of their lives.

    Russia wears down the Ukrainian defenders with constant shelling.

    But they still believe in victory.

    The situation in the video.

  • "It's not over yet"

    Gazprom has recently significantly reduced its deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

    Economics Minister Habeck considers the reasons to be false – and he warns.

  • Find all the latest developments on the war in Ukraine here: The News Update

(Would you like to receive the "Situation in the evening" conveniently by e-mail in your inbox? Order the daily briefing as a newsletter here.)

What else is important today

  • Health Minister Lauterbach warns of the increasing number of infections and recommends booster vaccinations:

    Because of the new, easily transmissible omicron subtype, the corona numbers are increasing again.

    Minister of Health Lauterbach has expressed concern about the summer wave.

    People from risk groups should be vaccinated again.

  • More than one in three complains about internet problems:

    The Netflix stream is faltering and is it only progressing slowly in the home office?

    According to a survey, numerous Internet users have such difficulties again and again - especially in the evening.

  • The public prosecutor's office is investigating against Fynn Kliemann:

    The Fynn Kliemann case reaches the criminal justice system: the Stade public prosecutor's office has initiated proceedings against the musician and businessman - on suspicion of fraud.

My favorite story today...

...is one that my colleague Alexander Neubacher picked up on yesterday in his "Situation in the Evening": Sandra Schulz's text about nostalgia and transfiguration and why it's nicer to keep things than to throw them away.

Alex asked you, dear readers, to send him your favorite things that you are attached to.

We received a few letters, and we would like to present three of our favorite objects to you:

"I've been using," writes reader

Anke Krügel

from northern Italy, "since I moved out of my parents' house and have been in Italy for twenty years now, using my grandmother's cutlery from Berlin.

I find it fascinating that such a commodity is practically indestructible.

I have fond memories of Sundays with her and her roast pork with boiled potatoes and peas, which we used to eat with her so often.« Frau Krügel wrote more about her cutlery here.

"Along with many other treasures from my childhood, the two toy cars pictured are definitely among my fondest memories," writes

Alexander Juras

from Nairobi.

»I got the American police car from my aunt who lives in America and who visited us in Germany in the late 1960s (she had married a GI shortly after the war).

As you can see, he's pretty busy.

The Landrover, which I also got in the 60s, was definitely my favorite car because of the aura of adventure surrounding it (Generation Daktari....).

It even impressed me so much that I have it in large today.

But as an excuse, I have to say that where I currently live and work (Kenya) it really is sometimes necessary to move forward.

And of course I also have a box with very individual memorabilia that has been through many moves, including my first love letters.«

"Yes, I too have a treasure from my childhood," writes

Josef Clekovic

.

»Unfortunately only as a picture, and this picture is in my office at home.

Sometimes I stand in front of the picture of my children's shoes and think »thank you for reminding me«, even though I'm 60 today and there's still a bit of a child in me.«

  • Read the whole story here: The Treasures of our Childhood - Why Keeping is Better Than Throwing It Away 

What we recommend today at SPIEGEL+

  • »You have to avoid crazy fashions«:

    Howard Marks became an investor legend with high-yield bonds and bankrupt companies.

    Today he finds Microsoft, Amazon and Apple expensive.

    A conversation about investing in turbulent stock market times, gold and the appeal of bonds.

  • He again:

    The Thuringian CDU made life difficult for Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

    Now party leader Friedrich Merz is learning how exhausting the situation is there – it also has to do with a man's ambitions.

  • He loves it when a plan works:

    Timo Werner and Leroy Sané were in the starting XI against Italy – a risk that national coach Hansi Flick consciously took.

    He was rewarded, and not just because of the Werner goal.

  • The biggest misconceptions about part-time:

    Less work, fewer hours, fewer rights?

    Many employees would like to be in the office less often and would like more free time - but what are the consequences?

    The fact check. 

Which is less important today

Enlarge image

If only he knew...

Photo: Your MIRROR

  • It might not be that important for you as an adult, but it might be for your children: The new »Dein SPIEGEL« is here!

    In it,

    Bero and Jakob

    interviewed

    the virologist

    Christian Drosten .

    They had very unusual questions to which Drosten had just as unusual answers.

    In view of the Corona summer wave, which Health Minister Karl Lauterbach says is here now, maybe you too will enjoy reading the conversation between Bero, Jakob and the pop star of science?

    The booklet can be ordered online, here and here.

Typo of the day

, now corrected: "Twitter imposed a large-scale hiring job" 

Cartoon of the Day:

Summer Sky

And tonight?

You can take a look at the most recent top-level discussion that Carolin Katschak's colleagues from our video department regularly produce.

In this format, moderator

Markus Feldenkirchen

repeatedly interviews top-class people, primarily from politics.

Comedian and author

Kurt Krömer

was his guest yesterday.

His book "You mustn't believe everything you think" is stapled to number 1 on the SPIEGEL bestseller list.

But it's something else when Krömer talks about the difficulties he had to overcome in his life in a wonderful Berlin dialect than just reading it.

These included alcohol addiction, depression, impotence.

He tells how, when drunk, he was able to get a bar party in the mood, which would not have been his way when he was sober.

He describes how his job created more and more stress and threatened to slip away from normal life as a father.

And then he gets funny again, suggesting a conversation at the Berliner Ensemble: Kurt Krömer in conversation with Gerhard Schröder for SPIEGEL.

Mr. Schröder, if you are reading this: would you kindly send Markus Feldenkirchen an e-mail with your acceptance?

A lovely evening.

Cordially


yours, Janko Tietz

Here you can order the »Situation in the Evening« by e-mail.

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-06-15

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