As of: February 15, 2024, 1:45 p.m
By: Sarah El Sheimy
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Economics Minister Habeck starts his tour through Saxony and Thuringia in Leipzig.
At the craft fair he is rejected by Saxony's Prime Minister.
Leipzig - “Deal!” announced Robert Habeck on the podium at the craft fair, which the Minister of Economic Affairs visited during his stay in Leipzig.
As Die
Welt
reports, he suggested to the Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer that the Greens and the CDU work together to weaken the debt brake.
Kretschmer had previously suggested to Habeck that he should listen to his own experts on economic issues.
Habeck replied that they, in turn, would demand exactly that: invest in order to stimulate the economy - a strategy that the FDP, as a traffic light coalition partner, is resisting.
But Kretschmer also rejected Habeck's advances.
Michael Kretschmer (l, CDU), Prime Minister of Saxony, and Robert Habeck (Alliance 90/The Greens), Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection.
© Jan Woitas/dpa
Kretschmer demands less regulation from Habeck
The Prime Minister compared the Economics Minister's strategy with GDR policy.
Instead of “micro-controlling the state,” Kretschmer called for “freedom, competition and openness to technology.”
These are words that must have had an impact on the audience at the craft fair.
And not just because “GDR politics” is a sensitive topic, especially in new federal states like Saxony.
Rather, the Central Association of German Crafts also called for a reduction in bureaucracy on the same podium.
“We are regulated at every turn,” said its president Jörg Dittrich in an interview with Habeck.
CDU and Greens in election campaign mode
Habeck's attempt to join forces with the CDU is all about the upcoming state elections.
There will be elections in Saxony and Thuringia in September.
In the
MDR
Saxony trend, the AfD was the strongest force in January (35 percent) and thus overtook the CDU (30 percent).
With 37 percent of the seats, it is the largest parliamentary group in the Saxon state parliament and governs together with the Greens (10.5 percent) and the SPD (8.8 percent).
According to the survey, both only get 7 percent.
In Thuringia, the AfD was
at a record high in
MDR surveys in July.
According to this survey, the left had the biggest losses (12 percent).