Green politician - Göring-Eckardt: "AfD values can be brought back down"
Ahead of the 2024 election year, Green politician Katrin Göring-Eckardt has called for more interest in and respect for the life experience of East Germans. "I would also like to see more of the East Germans in my own party," said the Vice-President of the Bundestag in an interview with the German Press Agency. The Thuringian added: "We showed once in '89 that we can win democracy. And now we have to defend it as East Germans."
The three eastern German states of Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg have state elections next year, and the AfD is number one in the polls in all three states. The Greens are just below the five percent threshold in Thuringia and slightly above it in the other two states.
Göring-Eckardt admitted that there is certainly support for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in the east, but also a lot of hostility. "I explain this by the fact that we as a party stand for change, for progress, for diversity. I think that stresses people out. After a pandemic and in times of war and crisis, they long for peace and quiet."
"If you want a neck steak, eat a neck steak"
She rejected the accusation of being a party of prohibition. "I don't want to dictate to anyone what or how they eat, what or how they speak," said the 57-year-old. "If you want a neck steak, eat neck steak." But: "If you reflect the true cost of it to some extent, then it's no longer available for less than two euros. We have to endure this honesty together."
Göring-Eckardt sharply criticized the AfD, which for its part often comes down hard on the Greens. "The AfD is creative in inventing alleged bans that the Greens wanted," she said. "This is an organization that is good at saying no and rabble-rousing. It offers nothing for the concrete concerns of everyday people. It stirs up hatred and agitation."
With a view to future elections, Göring-Eckardt predicted: "The AfD's ratings can be brought down again." The decisive factor is the confidence of the traffic light coalition in itself, the confidence of the people in politics and of politics in the people. "I have no desire to give up before we have even started. Before the three state elections in eastern Germany, the sun will rise and fall very often."
From eight to midnight in the Bundestag
Göring-Eckardt admitted that people in rural areas or small towns often feel forgotten by federal politics. But: "It's not true that MPs don't know what's going on," she said. "They're not just in Berlin, they're out and about in their constituencies, visiting clubs or businesses. MPs also have families, their children go to school, play sport and go shopping."
She has spent most of her private life in the village for decades. In Berlin, politicians sometimes sit in the buildings of the German Bundestag from eight in the morning until midnight. "But we spend the other half of our time in real life. That's where we find out what works and what doesn't."
Göring-Eckardt website
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- Despite the AfD leading in the polls in the three eastern German states of Thuringia, Saxony, and Brandenburg ahead of the 2022 elections, the Greens, specifically Katrin Göring-Eckardt, are hoping to increase their support.
- Göring-Eckardt believes that the Green Party's emphasis on change, progress, and diversity may be contributing to some hostility in eastern Germany, but she sees potential support there as well.
- The German Press Agency interviewed Göring-Eckardt, who expressed her desire to see more East Germans within her own party and emphasized the importance of East Germans in defending democracy, drawing upon the success of the German Democratic Republic's peaceful revolution in 1989.
- AfD often criticizes the Greens, which Göring-Eckardt characterizes as an organization that excels in saying no and stirring up hate and agitation, while offering little in the way of concrete solutions.
- Göring-Eckardt also rejected accusations that her party is prohibitionist, stating that she doesn't wish to dictate individuals' choices and that people should be able to consume products like neck steak without paying reduced prices if they choose to acknowledge the product's true cost.
- In preparation for the 2022 elections, Göring-Eckardt believes that the AfD's ratings can be reduced if the traffic light coalition can maintain public confidence and if people have trust in both politics and themselves.
- Göring-Eckardt, who has spent most of her private life in a village, understands the feelings of frustration from individuals in rural areas and small towns that may feel overlooked by federal politics, although she asserts that elected officials are active in their constituencies and engaged in the community.
Source: www.stern.de
