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Ferda Ataman is the new Federal Anti

2022-07-07T15:24:10.412Z


The personnel was discussed controversially, now the decision has been made: Ferda Ataman was elected anti-discrimination officer of the federal government.


Enlarge image

The federal government's new anti-discrimination commissioner: Ferda Ataman

Photo: Jörg Carstensen / dpa

In the end, there are 376 votes for Ferda Ataman: This makes the controversial publicist the new federal anti-discrimination officer.

Ataman can breathe a sigh of relief, just like the Greens and SPD, who had campaigned for them - and in the end probably Chancellor Olaf Scholz too.

Because if things had gone wrong and Ataman had missed the majority, the traffic light coalition would have experienced its first real crisis because of the lack of votes from its own ranks.

There was a lot to be said for Ataman in advance, but there was also harsh criticism.

The 43-year-old, who comes from Stuttgart and comes from a secular Muslim family in Turkey, has been dealing with the issue of migration for years.

She worked for ex-CDU leader Armin Laschet when he was North Rhine-Westphalia's integration minister.

She was chairwoman of the association Neue Deutsche Medienmacher*innen.

She wrote columns in SPIEGEL that were provocative at times.

Most recently, Ataman founded a consulting firm to help companies and institutions become more diverse.

Right campaign against Ataman

Her path to the new post was rocky, even after the cabinet had already confirmed the proposal made by Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus.

Finally, the candidate of the Green politician still had to go through the Bundestag - AfD and right-wing media wanted to prevent that, ran a campaign that then drew circles in other media.

Ataman has been accused of being wrong for the post, often using flimsy and sometimes distorting arguments.

As late as Wednesday, the manager of the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Bernd Baumann, tried to remove Ataman's election from the agenda - simply not voting was apparently not enough for his party.

Baumann gave a plenary speech in which he called Ataman a "hate preacher" who "consistently discriminates against Germans."

Ataman once wrote about whether Germans can be called "asparagus eaters" and explains why the word "potato" is not an insult to Germans.

AfD politicians have been stirring up sentiment against Ataman on social networks since mid-June, together with the conspiracy ideologist Oliver Janich and the figurehead of the right-wing extremist "Identitarian Movement", Martin Sellner.

At that time, AfD member of parliament Beatrix von Storch had already described Ataman as an "anti-German racist" who wanted to get "privileges for migrant minorities".

She should never take office.

At the beginning of this week, the AfD politician followed up and turned to the FDP.

If they agree, so Storch, Ataman could be prevented together with the Union and AfD.

In fact, Thorsten Frei, first parliamentary manager of the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag, said on Wednesday the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" that Ataman was "not eligible" for his group colleagues because they "polemised and split".

Similar voices were also heard from the FDP: Linda Teuteberg, MP and member of the federal executive board, told the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”, for example, that Ataman stands “in a special way for divisive identity politics, defamation of those who think differently and a lack of willingness to differentiate”.

Further reservations with the FDP and Union

When the result for Ataman was announced late Thursday afternoon, it was clear: it was enough for a majority.

FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr had previously announced the approval of his deputies, and many parliamentarians from the Left Party may have voted for Ataman in the secret election.

But the new anti-discrimination commissioner of the federal government should be under special observation, not only from the Union faction in the Bundestag.

Its deputy leader, Dorothee Bär of the CSU, said of Ataman's election that the federal government was "leading the office ad absurdum".

Mrs. Ataman divides instead of unites«.

But even in the coalition, not everyone seems to be convinced of her.

FDP parliamentary group leader says with a view to the new anti-discrimination officer: “She now has a completely different role.

And I expect her to embrace that other role as well, realizing that she's not a publicist anymore.”

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-07-07

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