Mr. de Maizière, you were a federal minister for many years, but a state minister in East Germany for even longer, and you still live in Dresden today. How do you feel about the state elections in September?
Of course I am worried, especially with regard to Thuringia. The Prime Minister there is from the Left – they are in decline, and the CDU, SPD and Greens are also not in good shape in Thuringia. In Saxony, on the other hand, the last state election showed that a good Prime Minister like Michael Kretschmer can still achieve a lot. But of course we have never had such a strong AfD.
Were you surprised that your party colleague and former head of the authorities, Hans-Georg Maaßen, wants to split off the Union of Values from the CDU and thus run in the state elections in the east?
This is an expression of tortured vanity. I don't see this being successful.
You were Federal Minister of the Interior when Maaßen was at the head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. At that time there were always tensions with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Did you already recognize this angry, populist core in Maaßen back then?
Not an angry populist core, but definitely a rejection of what we did there. This sometimes pushed the limits of loyalty. When Horst Seehofer finally fired him, something broke in him. He saw this as a blatant injustice and changed massively personally afterwards. Maybe it was already built into him, it's inexplicable to me.
Sahra Wagenknecht is much further along in the founding process of her party. At first she called herself “left-conservative,” but now she has dropped the word “left” entirely. How does that sound to someone like you, who might be considered a true conservative?
I certainly take that as a compliment, although I may not entirely agree with some who describe themselves as conservative in my party. For me, conservatism is primarily a question of attitude. What bothers me about Ms. Wagenknecht is that she is taking more and more tactical positions using exactly these narrow terms. The potential voters are analyzed in detail and the program is then tailored accordingly. She used to be a believer. Although I rejected most things, I always had respect. Now she is very triumphant, bossy and tactical. That might help for one or two elections, but not in the long run. Everywhere she is there is also conflict. And I'm not sure how convincing she can be on site. She once had an appearance in my former constituency: She arrived an hour and a half late, didn't apologize, read her book, didn't allow any questions and left freezing cold. Even her biggest supporters were deeply disturbed.
With Pegida in Saxony, you experienced the beginnings of what populists like Wagenknecht, Maaßen and Höcke now draw their strength from. Could this development have been stopped?
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