The head of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen, spoke on “Maischberger” about a possible war with Russia. Also on the topic: citizens’ money.
Germany is facing major challenges – both domestically and globally. A panel of experts at “Maischberger” discussed how difficult both situations actually are on Wednesday evening.
The guests
Christian Dürr: FDP parliamentary group leaderGregor Gysi: Long-time parliamentary group leader of the Left PartyChristoph Heusgen: Former diplomat and head of the Munich Security ConferenceTheo Koll: Long-time head of the ZDF capital studioSusanne Gaschke: Author of the Neue Zürcher ZeitungLuisa Thomé: Deputy head of Department X at Zeit Online
The first item on the agenda was to take stock of the traffic light coalition. None of the participants in the discussion wanted to comment on their work in an overwhelmingly positive manner. “Is the traffic light better than its reputation?” asked moderator Sandra Maischberger during the discussion. The long-time head of the ZDF capital studio Theo Koll answered this unflatteringly: “The situation is so bad that you could perhaps say that the traffic lights are a little better than the situation.”
Regarding the exchange of blows with CDU leader Friedrich Merz, which was quite heated by Olaf Scholz’s standards, Koll said that although they had experienced an emotional chancellor, they had not seen any signs of consensus between the coalition and the opposition. But that is exactly what the citizens of Germany expect from politics.
The journalist Luisa Thomé had a similar view: Although they had experienced “an emotional chancellor,” it was not something that would calm citizens down. She also emphasized that consensus was important. Susanne Gaschke criticized Scholz for talking a lot about respect but then not answering a single question from journalists. “Now he calls Merz a mimosa – and that’s because he feels hit by the harsh criticism of his government.” The traffic light acts with arrogance towards the opposition.
Gysi on citizens’ money: “You can’t look down”
A particular point of contention at the moment is the increase in citizens’ allowance. Many citizens criticize that this eliminates the incentive for many people to work. In a dialogue with the FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr, the long-time leader of the Left, Gregor Gysi, said that this situation had to be explained differently to the citizens. “You can’t look down, you have to look up. People earn a lot more up there. And if they had less citizen’s money, you wouldn’t have any more either.”
Dürr explained that they do not want to pit working people against the unemployed, but rather provide incentives to work. While Koll said that with all the focus on social benefits, citizens would ask themselves whether this was still the government of the employees, Dürr emphasized his own work: “We are reducing the income tax for the middle. This is specifically about more net money in their pockets , for those who get up in the morning and work hard.”
171 billion euros will go to social welfare next year – nine billion more than last year. However, the majority of this does not flow into citizens’ money, but into pension insurance, which is “not fit for grandchildren,” said Dürr. Unsurprisingly, Gysi had different ideas than the FDP: “I wouldn’t expose the pension to the stock market. The solution is something else.” It is necessary for everyone with earned income to pay into pension insurance, says Gysi.
He also talked about his former party colleague and current competitor Sahra Wagenknecht – and did not believe her election program had any long-term chances. “She wants to offer a mix. She has refugee policy like the AfD, economic policy like Ludwig Erhard in mind. Social policy a bit like the Left. She believes that she will get voters from all districts. That can even work in the beginning, but not in the long term. My experience is: Whenever you offer a mixture, it ends up being a loss.”
Dürr, however, does not understand what the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance stands for. “They want to get out of NATO, that’s the AfD’s agenda, that has to be made very clear.” He believes that at some point voters will ask themselves what Wagenknecht actually stands for. So far she has been noticed more by the chaos in the Left Party. “That’s why I’m unsure whether it can pull this off as its own party.”
Thomé later attested that Wagenknecht had recognized something that other parties had previously neglected: “Namely, that the electorate is very heterogeneous. Voters are too often put into drawers.” Regarding the controversial payment card for refugees, she says that it is just a quick solution, but not a particularly worthy instrument. This is a generalization. “I think it’s a well-functioning sign,” she said – but this wouldn’t solve any problems.
