migration
Ramelow on Merz: “The AfD is hitting itself on the thighs”
Bodo Ramelow accuses Merz. photo
© Michael Reichel/dpa
CDU leader Merz is receiving support within his own party for his statements about dentures for refugees. He is receiving significant headwind from Thuringia’s Prime Minister Ramelow.
Thuringia’s left-wing Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow has given his support to the Union faction leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) accused of running the AfD’s business with his comments on the dental treatment of rejected asylum seekers. “The AfD is kicking itself, feels confirmed and even supported by the confirmation of its clichés,” he told the editorial network Germany. Anyone who “serves resentment distracts from the actual problems of medical care,” he added, referring to the growing concentration of medical practices in the hands of large companies.
Merz said on Wednesday in a discussion about migration policy on the television channel Welt: “They go crazy, the people, when they see that 300,000 asylum seekers have been rejected, they don’t leave the country, they get the full benefits, they get the full medical care. They sit there Doctor and have their teeth redone, and the German citizens next door don’t get any appointments.”
Outrage and support
The SPD and the Greens reacted indignantly. In fact, asylum seekers – including tolerated people whose application was rejected – only receive acute medical care for the first 18 months, but then have almost full access to the health system.
In the Union, Merz received more support. North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) explained that Merz only wanted to draw attention to the general burden on the state, society and social systems caused by the sharp increase in irregular migration. Others, like Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU), remained silent.
The former chairman of the CDU Basic Values Commission, the historian Andreas Rödder, agreed with Merz. What the party leader is referring to is “the toxic combination from which our country is suffering: the excessive demands caused by uncontrolled migration plus the growing deficits in our infrastructure. In this respect, he is completely right,” said Rödder to the newspaper “Welt” (Friday). “Friedrich Merz’s problem is not the excitement of the left, but (are) the snipers in his own party.”