“Derailment”
After Putin comparison: Kubicki apologizes to Habeck
Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) had caused outrage with a statement about Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck. photo
© Axel Heimken/dpa
In a talk show, FDP politician Wolfgang Kubicki drew parallels between Robert Habeck and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. In his apology he now speaks of “complete nonsense”.
The deputy FDP chairman Wolfgang Kubicki has apologized “in all forms” to the Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) after a comparison with Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin.
“To put him in a row with a wanted war criminal is complete nonsense and a derailment. That doesn’t work at all,” said Kubicki of the German Press Agency in Berlin. “Robert Habeck is an upstanding democrat and I’d rather argue with him about the matter than about defamation.”
In the talk show “Veto” on the platform “MASS TASTE TV”, Kubicki said, among other things: “Putin and Habeck have a similar conviction that the state, the leader, the chosen ones, know better than the people what is good for them. ” Habeck has a concept of freedom that “Vladimir Putin could easily translate to his own ruling milieu.”
Dröge: “That was borderline”
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit called the statements “absolutely inappropriate”. He also referred to Kubicki’s apology.
The Greens parliamentary group leadership was alienated by Kubicki’s statements. The fact that this has “a certain special role” in the FDP is known, said the parliamentary group leader Katharina Dröge on the sidelines of the Bundestag Greens’ retreat in Weimar. “And that he should perhaps find a form of communication that does justice to the dignity of his office, that would be my recommendation to him.” However, she does not want to hold the entire FDP responsible for Kubicki’s statements. “That was borderline. But he has now recognized that and apologized.” Co-chairwoman Britta Haßelmann said: “When I read it this morning, I thought: Everyone disqualifies as best they can.”