Eurofighter Airbase Laage - Green party leader critiques Eurofighter flight by Merz
Green party chairperson Ricarda Lang criticized Union faction leader Friedrich Merz's flight in an Eurofighter combat jet during a Luftwaffe visit in June. "That's rather thoughtless. Over 100,000 Euro should have been spent on the troops instead of personal adventures and self-staging", Lang wrote on the Internet platform X.
She was obviously referring to the government's response to a parliamentary inquiry by Left parliamentarian Cornelia Möhring on the costs of the flight. However, the Defense Ministry emphasized in its response that the costs of 111,242.38 Euro were not in addition to those for Merz: "These would have [occurred]... because the Eurofighter training flight took place in routine flight operations and would have also taken place without the presence of Mr. Parliamentarian Friedrich Merz with the same flying contents."
Left parliamentarian Möhring spoke of "waste of funds": "Merz conducted the flight instead of the budgeted flight hours of a Luftwaffe copilot who remained on the ground for Merz."
Merz had completed the flight when he visited the Eurofighter airbase Laage in Rostock in June. The hobby pilot flew parts of the route himself, but the command was in the front cockpit by the Luftwaffe pilot. The aircraft broke the sound barrier during the flight.
Lang on X
- Despite the criticism from Green party chairperson Ricarda Lang, Friedrich Merz defended his flight in an Eurofighter combat jet.
- The Federal military responded to Lang's criticism, stating that the costs for Merz's flight were not additional to the routine flight operations.
- The opposition parties, including the CDU's allies, Alliance 90/The Greens, raised concerns about Merz's flight, arguing that taxpayer money should not be spent on such personal adventures.
- The controversy surrounding Merz's flight in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's Laage, a Eurofighter airbase in Rostock, reached Berlin's Federal Parliament.
- Ricoarda Lang suggested that the government could have allocated the over 100,000 Euro spent on Merz's flight to the troops, implying that it was a thoughtless expenditure.
- The defense ministry emphasized that the Eurofighter training flight took place in routine operations and would have occurred regardless of Merz's presence.
- Merz, a trained pilot, completed the flight in the Eurofighter, with the command in the front cockpit handled by a Luftwaffe pilot, breaking the sound barrier during the flight.
