The CDU party chairman Friedrich Merz made a name for himself again on Monday with clear criticism of Germany’s capital Berlin and the district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. At the Bavarian folk festival Gillamoos, Merz shouted during a speech: “You are Germany! Not Berlin, not Kreuzberg! Gillamoos is Germany!” That did not go unheeded in the capital.
The mayor of the Berlin district, Clara Herrmann (Greens), told the Tagesspiegel: “There are more people in Sauerland too traveling by bike than by private jet.” Among other things, the Green politician is playing on the arrival of the Sauerlander with his own plane Wedding of Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner (FDP) on. The CDU boss owns his own plane and, according to his own statements, is often on the move.
Merz had recently portrayed Berlin as an enemy of the Federal Republic’s mainstream in political speeches. In doing so, he mentioned in particular the “Kreuzberch” district, which is governed by the Greens and dominated by migrants, and which is actually called Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.
Just a few days ago he had said the same thing as Gillamoos at a parliamentary group retreat in the Sauerland and tweeted: “The Federal Republic of Germany is not Berlin-Kreuzberg. The majority of the population lives in small and medium-sized towns like here in the Sauerland.” In 2020, Merz shouted a similar sentence in Apolda, Thuringia. At that time it said: “Berlin-Kreuzberg is not Germany.”