Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) provokes his coalition partner - and compares Robert Habeck (Greens) with Vladimir Putin.
Then he rows back.
Berlin – The Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) is known for his clear criticism of his coalition partners.
In an interview with the former FDP member of the Bundestag Wieland Schinnenburg, the 71-year-old has now noticed similarities between Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
In the meantime, the FDP politician has apologized to Habeck.
But the Greens are angry.
Wolfgang #Kubicki as a guest in episode 90 of VETO on https://t.co/wPRPtTduQS - he compares Robert #Habeck and #Putin with each other and says both have a similar concept of #freedom.
Complete interview: https://t.co/0nsNyt8fgW #Ampel #HabeckPutin #FDP #Gruene pic.twitter.com/Otk9ZgQOQM
— Die Mediatheke (@die_mediatheke) March 21, 2023
Habeck and Putin: Same concept of freedom according to Kubicki
Regarding Habeck, Kubicki had said: “He thinks freedom is the understanding of necessity.
That means: whoever submits himself voluntarily is really free.
And whoever opposes the fact that he has to submit, whoever has to make his own decisions, is in truth not free.
Because he is forced to oppose.” According to Kubicki, this is a concept of freedom that Vladimir Putin could easily translate to his own ruling milieu.
Kubicki went on to say: "Putin and Habeck have a similar belief that the state, the leader, the chosen ones, know better than the people what is good for them." The difference between the two politicians' concepts of freedom is only that Putin wants to achieve his goals through violence - Habeck, on the other hand, through prohibitions.
Previously, Kubicki had thought that Habeck had smoked something because he had been talking about freedom the whole time at his party's federal congress.
The interview was conducted in the talk show "Veto" from the Internet subscription channel "Massentaste-TV".
The program is produced by the Hamburg company Alsterfilm.
Putin comparison: Kubicki apologizes "formally" to Habeck
But just a few hours later, Kubicki suspected that the comparison didn't fit.
The deputy FDP chairman showed remorse and has since apologized to Habeck “in all forms”.
"To put him in line with a wanted war criminal is utter nonsense and a blunder.
That doesn't work at all," Kubicki told
dpa
on Wednesday.
"Robert Habeck is an upstanding Democrat and I'd rather argue with him on the matter than over the path of defamation."
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After Putin comparison: Kubicki apologizes to coalition partner Habeck.
© Axel Heimken/Britta Peddersen/Sergei Karpukhin/dpa/Montage
Greens say: Comparison with war criminals is "highly dangerous"
In the meantime, politicians from the Greens have also commented on the Habeck-Putin comparison.
Katrin Göring-Eckardt told the
Tagesspiegel
: "That's not how you treat each other among democratic parties and certainly not among coalition partners." He harms his party and damages the office of Bundestag Vice President, according to Göring-Eckardt.
“The FDP as a whole must be careful not to continue to be sidelined.
Wolfgang Kubicki once again violated the dignity of the office and in terms of content the FDP mutated into a naysayer party.
I find that very regrettable and worrying.”
Sara Nanni, spokeswoman for security policy for the Greens, also spoke to
t-online
.
Comparisons with the Kremlin boss are always inappropriate.
Although Kubicki is known for his sayings.
"But that's not the usual Kubicki saying, that's just unworthy of a Bundestag Vice President."
Budget politician Jamila Schäfer (Greens) agreed with
t-online
: "Wolfgang Kubicki seems to have lost all measure.
His party owes it to the citizens to return to an objective debate on climate policy.” She also warned: “It is extremely dangerous when the Vice President of the Bundestag compares a German government member with a war criminal.”
Criticism of coalition partners: Kubicki called Habeck "bigoted"
As is well known, Kubicki does not mince his words when it comes to his coalition partners.
It was only at the end of last year that he sharply criticized the Economics Minister.
Regarding the Qatar deal, he accused Habeck of "bigotry".
It is hypocritical to buy very expensive liquid gas from Qatar, the Emirates and the USA and to refuse to mine cheaper shale gas in Germany.
According to Kubicki, he does it “for purely ideological reasons.”
(hk)
List of rubrics: © Axel Heimken/Britta Peddersen/Sergei Karpukhin/dpa/Montage