Göring-Eckardt counters the accusation of a banned party and criticizes the AfD. What does the Green politician have planned for East Germany?
Berlin – Katrin Göring-Eckardt, Green Bundestag Vice President, strongly criticizes the AfD in a dpa interview. She paid particular attention to East Germany and her home state of Thuringia, where the AfD is currently in first place in the polls. The Greens, on the other hand, are moving along the five percent hurdle. It was an area of tension between the two parties that could become significant in view of the state elections in 2024.
The AfD is good at “saying no and bullying” and fomenting “hatred and agitation”, but it offers nothing for everyday concerns, criticized Göring-Eckardt. She is confident that the AfD values could fall again if the traffic light coalition trusts in itself. She also explained that the mutual trust relationship between people and politics is just as important.
Göring-Eckardt is confident about East Germany
The Green politician called for special attention to be paid to the life experiences of East Germans ahead of the 2024 election year, in which state elections will also take place in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg in addition to the European elections. She would like to see more presence from people from East Germany, including among the Greens.
Katrin Göring-Eckardt is herself a Thuringian and spoke about defending democracy as an East German after 1989. “The sun rises and sets very often before the three state elections in East Germany,” explained the politician and expressed her confidence. In July 2023 it was still received as “green waste” in East Germany.
Göring-Eckardt explained the AfD's success in the polls by a longing for calm due to crises and war. Against this background, she assumed that people would be stressed by a progressive party. Regarding the ban party's accusation, she said that the Alternative for Germany was “creative in inventing alleged bans” that were wanted by the Greens. “If you want neck steak, you should eat neck steak,” she explained. Nobody should be told what to eat or what to say.
Göring-Eckardt demands honesty: “True costs” of neck steak
In the course of her neck steak analogy, the Bundestag Vice President explained that a neck steak would no longer cost less than two euros if one “represents the true costs to some extent”. She was probably referring to the environmental costs of meat production. “We have to endure this honesty together,” she continued.
Previously, meat was taxed at seven percent, while vegan and vegetarian substitute products as processed foods were taxed at 19 percent. The Green Party's proposal to increase the VAT on meat to 19 percent was already met with criticism in 2013 and probably contributed to the image as a “ban party”.
Accusation of absence unjustified – Green politician argues
Göring-Eckardt is aware that people in rural areas and small towns often feel forgotten in federal politics. However, she dismissed the accusation that MPs in these districts were unaware of what was happening. “Visit” in their constituencies [sie] Clubs or companies […,] have families, the children go to school, play sports, they shop.” Göring-Eckardt spends most of her private life in the village, but in her professional life she sits in the Bundestag buildings, sometimes from eight in the morning to midnight.
The Green politician argued that it is precisely in this private life that one notices problems and functioning subject areas. She explained that about half of her time was invested in work, while the other half was spent “in real life.” (with dpa)
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