politics
Kreuzberg or Gillamoos: Cool reaction to Merz statement
CDU leader Friedrich Merz speaks at the Gillamoos political morning pint. photo
© Sven Hoppe/dpa
CDU leader Friedrich Merz causes discussions with statements about the district of Kreuzberg. Berlin reacts coolly while the debate on urban and rural politics continues to simmer.
A derogatory remark from CDU leader Friedrich Merz about Berlin-Kreuzberg at the Bavarian folk festival Gillamoos met with cool reactions in the capital. “We like Kreuzberg, and Germany, and the Sauerland, and Gillamoos,” said the spokeswoman for Governing Mayor Kai Wegner, who also belongs to the CDU, to the “Tagesspiegel”. “And a bit of Kreuzberg for everyone would also be good.”
Merz said on Monday at a beer tent appearance at the folk festival in Abensberg, Lower Bavaria: “Kreuzberg is not Germany, Gillamoos is Germany.”
The CDU politician Helge Braun was asked about this on Deutschlandfunk on Tuesday and explained Merz’s statements as follows: The traffic light coalition does a lot of politics for urban regions with an image of humanity that worries many people. Many in rural areas did not feel taken along. Braun cited cannabis legalization or free gender choice as examples. The CDU cannot support this.
The debate that federal politicians in Berlin gear their policies too much to people in the city and not enough to people in the country has been going on for a long time. Kreuzberg is also a symbol for a district with many immigrants. It is also a stronghold of the Greens – with a very small proportion of voters from the CDU.
The green mayor of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Clara Herrmann, commented on Merz’s statement in the “Tagesspiegel”: “Even in the Sauerland, more people are traveling by bike than by private jet” – apparently an allusion to the fact that Merz sometimes uses his own plane Is on the way.