Scholz considers concerns about the triumph of the AfD to be unfounded
With “Maischberger” Olaf Scholz tries to counteract the impression that he is not communicating enough. He rejects any complicity of the traffic light in the polls of the AfD.
BFederal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has expressed concern about the AfD’s high poll numbers and at the same time warned against purely protest elections. “Every voter, every voter takes responsibility for what they do,” said Steinmeier on Sunday in the ZDF summer interview. This also applies if you “strengthen a party that contributes to the brutalization of the dispute”.
“We must not continue to promote the business of fearmongers in this society,” warned Steinmeier. “What we need is not an economy of fearmongers, but an economy of problem solvers. And it’s not like we don’t have any of those.”
The AfD is currently in the nationwide polls at about 20 percent – and thus ahead of the chancellor party SPD. In Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony, where new state parliaments will be elected in just over a year, the AfD is currently the strongest party in the current polls.
Steinmeier: Not every critical question is populism
“Yes, the polls are worrying,” said Steinmeier. “But they must not lead us to automatically classify every critical question as populism and right-wing extremism.”
If large parts of the electorate turn away from the ruling parties and the largest opposition party does not win, this raises questions. “Of course governing parties also have to ask themselves, and they do, whether they have the right issues, whether issues are being left out, whether they are choosing the right communication, whether they are showing the unity that voters expect, or whether there is too much argument.” But he warns against always asking who is to blame. “Is it Habeck, is it Scholz, is it Lindner, is it Merz? I think we’re not going far enough with that.”
The mood in the country is also influenced by completely different things. “We are, we must not forget that, a society under stress,” said Steinmeier, pointing to the financial and euro crisis, the immigration of refugees, the corona pandemic and the Ukraine war. “These are extraordinary situations. You have to understand that people have questions.”
According to Steinmeier, Germany should not block the delivery of cluster munitions to Ukraine announced by the USA. It is true that this type of ammunition is still banned by the federal government and that Germany is against deliveries, he said. However, “in the current situation, Germany cannot stand in the arms of the USA”.
The United States announced on Friday that it would supply cluster munitions to Ukraine to help the country defend itself against Russia. Steinmeier pointed out that he himself signed the Oslo Convention Banning Cluster Munitions, to which more than 100 countries belong, in 2008 when he was Federal Foreign Minister. He was therefore “biased” in this debate, said Steinmeier.
With a view to the discussions about arms deliveries to Kiev, the Federal President emphasized that if the country stops defending itself “or we ensure that they are no longer able to defend themselves, it will be the end of Ukraine”.
