Tino Chrupalla
Report on German Economy
German Bundestag,
January 30, 2020, Plenarprotokoll 19/143, pp. 17844-17845
[Tino
Chrupalla is a national chairman of the Alternative für Deutschland and an AfD
Bundestag member from the eastern German state of Saxony. He is a painter and
businessman and here responds to a government report on the German economy.
Peter Altmaier (CDU) is the German Economics Minister.]
Right honorable Herr President. Honored
colleagues. Dear countrymen.
“To Master the Structural Change”: This is
the motto of the fiscal 2020 annual report of the Council of Advisors for the
estimate of general economic development. In my opinion, it is a matter here of
a report on the complacency of the Federal government. The so-called Economic Wise
Men specify measures for purposes which moreover are already settled.
The message can be roughly summarized:
Everything is tip-top, only here and there a couple of screws to be tightened;
for example, yet more women and old men put to work, more so-called skilled
labor to taken in from foreign countries; in no case is protection to be
practiced, even when the rest of the world does so and, most important, all is
to be coordinated internationally. A fundamental change of course will not be
required. Of wisdom, there is not a trace.
The Chancellor, on the other hand, in her
speech at the world economic forum in Davos, spoke in exceptionally clear
terms.
Michael Grosse-Brömer
(CDU/CSU): Do not praise the Chancellor too much! You will no longer be
chairman!
Now we know what is actually meant by
Structural Change. I cite: “Transformations of gigantic, historic proportions.”
That was her words. These transformations must take place because “the entire
way of work and life to which we have been accustomed in the industrial age”
will be fundamentally altered. Thus, the Chancellor’s prophesy.
Timon
Gremmels (SPD): And she is right!
She as well predicts that we will arrive at
completely new forms of creation of value by means of a second, giant transformation
– digitalization. I truly ask myself, in what crystal ball did this vision
appear to you, Frau Merkel? What, when all of that is a giant rumpus in which
the Big Player wins a Golden Nose while most of mankind is deprived of the
material, social and spiritual fundamentals of life?
The Chancellor, fortunately, is of the
understanding that not all people in Germany are as yet of that opinion or, as
Herr Altmaier indeed has said, have not yet understood that these dramatic
changes are really necessary and must also be financed by means of taxation. In
her Davos speech, she even pleads that we speak with one another and “reconcile
the emotions with the facts” – You have said that nicely, Frau Merkel.
Michael
Grosse-Brömer (CDU/CSU): That you cannot do that is clear!
I agree. That is, ja, what has driven men
like me into politics: We miss the readiness to engage in dialogue on the part
of those –
Sören
Bartol (SPD): You and readiness to dialogue!
– who adhere to these great transformation
ideas and are ready to pay any price –
Michael
Grosse-Brömer (CDU/CSU): Facts are naturally difficult for the AfD!
like those possessed, wishing to rearrange
our accustomed world [Lebensumwelt], and who do not appear to know what they
are actually doing there.
Is this idea of great, structural change, of
gigantic, world transformation, actually thought through to an end? Or is it
again only the old dream of an earthly paradise based upon politics –
Timon
Gremmels (SPD): Trust the people for once!
– and which, like all these projects of the
past, will shatter upon reality? We of
the AfD also agree that it is time to speak with one another. I am ready for
this dialogue. It must nevertheless be an open-ended dialogue.
Timon
Gremmels (SPD): The AfD says that!
I have a pair of economics experts at hand,
Herr Altmaier, who will not say to you what is expected but who could critically
consult on your policy, which I will gladly arrange for you.
Johann
Saathoff (SPD): What do you want exactly? Promises, or what? Pay-offs!
Many thanks.
[Translated by Todd Martin]
