As of: March 20, 2024, 9:14 p.m
By: Florian Naumann
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A successful businessman warns against the AfD.
A positive example?
There is approval from the Union – but not for all conceivable cases.
Berlin – Should commercial companies give their employees recommendations for their voting decisions?
A very delicate question – which a leading figure in the Union faction answered with “yes”.
At least in the case of “Screw King” Reinhold Würth and his warning from the AfD.
However, Parliamentary Secretary Thorsten Frei (CDU) also made a restriction.
Würth and the AfD: “Everything is right and highly credible” for warning
You can “expect important people in the economy to show what they stand for,” Frei told the
dpa
on Wednesday (March 20) .
As an owner-entrepreneur, Würth “of course has every right and, above all, a high level of credibility if he does not turn his heart into a murder pit, but also gives his employees his assessment,” added the CDU politician.
Frei said that one can only support Würth and I think what he did was completely legitimate.
It is to be welcomed that important business representatives showed that “our liberal democracy” and the social market economy are the basis for successful companies.
These are structural principles “that have made Germany what it is.
That is the basis of our success.” It is “an illusion to believe that Germany would have been as successful with any political system as we have been over the past seven decades.”
CDU politician praises Würth's AfD election warning - but puts a restriction on imitators
The economy has a charisma in society similar to trade unions, churches or other large social organizations, said Frei.
“We live in a democracy.
And a democracy only lives if there are democrats there.” However, he did not want to advise all high-ranking managers and companies to take a clear position:
Thorsten Frei (CDU, left) praises the statements of “screw king” Reinhold Würth about the AfD.
© Montage: Imago/dpa/picture-alliance/Marijan Murat/Political-Moments
There is a “huge difference” whether such actions involve an owner-entrepreneur and partner like Würth, “or whether it is an employed manager”.
In the latter case, “that wouldn’t work.
And of course it especially doesn’t work for those who are financed from public funds.”
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Würth warning about the AfD: Kretschmann praises – right-wing populists criticize “polarization”
The 88-year-old billionaire and family businessman Würth joined the protests against the AfD in a five-page letter and advised his 25,000 employees in Germany not to vote for the party.
He particularly addressed protest voters: “To make a fuss just because of a bit of fun and to vote for the AfD out of displeasure with the traffic light government is simply not enough.” is nevertheless a human characteristic.
There was also praise for this from Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens).
He spoke of a “valuable, style-forming note” from Würth.
As expected, the AfD criticized his statement - the Baden-Württemberg state parliamentary group leader Anton Baron warned of “polarization both in the workforce and among customers”.
Würth began an apprenticeship in his father's then small business at the age of 14 before taking over at the age of 19 after his death in 1954.
Today he is chairman of the foundation's supervisory board.
The billionaire is one of the richest Germans.
He emphasized in his letter that he usually does not comment on political issues - "but in this case of the AfD I see myself in agreement with millions upon millions of German citizens."
(
dpa/fn
)