Nicolaus Fest, November 24, 2021, Slovenia

European Parliament, Strasbourg, P9 CRE-PROV (2021)11-24(3-263-0000).

Herr President. Herr Commissioner. Councillor.

I myself was a member of the mission in Slovenia and mission leader Sophie in ‘t Veld in the end determined: The institutions are functioning. Justice, parliament, civil society and, first of all, the press are able to work, and three-quarters of the Slovenian press have a bias critical of the government.

Four things alone, according to the mission leader, may be problematic. First, the data protection, yet that anyway may be the case in 90% of European member states. Second – we have spoken of it – the naming of the European state prosecutor. This meanwhile has occurred – thus,  problem removed. Third, the financing of the national press agency, and this meanwhile has happened – thus, problem solved. And fourth, according to Sophie in ‘t Veld, the tone of discourse between government and opposition may be very sharp. This is correct. In this regard, Slovenia is a divided country. Yet the EU is not the watchdog of the choice of words and also not the nanny for friendly intercourse.

There is thus not a single reason to continue the supervision of Slovenia. And three of the seven mission members have made it clear that here it needs finally end. And the real scandal is that these objections find no mention in the concluding report. Instead, the monitoring will be continued, and that is nothing other than a tax-financed defamation of a conservative government. And as much as I estimate Sophie in ‘t Veld, we should nevertheless not here turn over for observation in the next 30 years all possible countries to the eternal glory of the leader of the DRFMG [Democracy, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights Monitoring Group].

 

[trans: tem]

 

Alice Weidel, November 25, 2021, New Government

AfD Kompakt, November 25, 2021.

This government will become for the citizens so expensive as none before in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany. Financial burdens and the deconstruction of civil rights will set new records. And nothing is therein altered by that in the future FDP chief Christian Lindner is allowed to issue the checks for a green ideology policy and the browbeating of die Bürger.

With the agreement to a “sugar tax”, the FDP has once again defrauded [hinter die Fichte geführt] its voters, even before the first minister received his government car. Quicker than a FDP chief can be tumbled, the promise of “no tax increases” became the introduction of a new tax. And this consumption tax is nothing other than a rip-off wrapped in pop pedagogy which primarily hits people with small purses who need to use a large portion of their income for consumption expenses.

In the immigration policy, the green migration lobby has evidently prevailed all along the line. Germany as a result becomes even more a migration magnet with all the foreseeable consequences for the security and social life in our country.

This cabinet and this government program will accelerate the decline of Germany into an overbearing nanny state which presumes to browbeat the citizens into the last corner of their private lives, yet which in its core duties, like the maintenance of infrastructure, law and order and domestic and external security, fails.

[trans: tem]

 

 

 

Joachim Steyer, November 10, 2021, Rainwater

Baden-Württemberg Landtag, Plenarprotokoll 17/18, pp. 875-877.

Right honorable Herr President. Right honorable colleagues.

In my speech, I seek your consent for the promotion of rainwater use installations [Regenwassernutzungsanlagen]. I will in the following explain what the problem is and why these installations are in part a solution. Should you have any questions as to my speech, I would be happy to be permitted to answer them.

After three hot, dry summers, we subsequently just had a couple of stormy months with heavy rains and flooding – even here directly in front of the Landtag. If the scientific prognoses prove correct, these weather events could soon be the rule and no longer the exception.

            Andreas Deuschle (CDU) and Thomas Poreski (Greens): And so climate change!

            Bernd Gögel (AfD): That is not disputed!

Bund and State are already working on a water strategy which will deal with the consequences of heavy rains and periods of drought. Before we reach a solution to these problems, we should yet peruse a few essentials.

Water is the basis of life. Not for nothing is the Earth named the blue planet. Water is the most precious thing we have.

…

In regards water, in contrast to the climate, we are not dependent on foreign countries. If Saudi princes think they need to install giant, artificial show gardens in the middle of the desert, then that perhaps is bad for Saudi Arabia’s water supply, but not for us.

Therefore, let us in common make our homeland weather-proof. Support that we here in the southwest bring about a solid promotion of rainwater use installations.

The principle of these installations is as simple as it is effective. Rainwater which hits the roof surface no longer trickles away unused but will be caught, filtered and stored in underground containers, so-called cisterns. These installations thus have alike a double use. By means of added storage capacity, the consequences of storms and heavy rains will clearly be ameliorated. And in drought periods, sufficient water is then still at hand. Thus may the garden be watered, the toilets flushed and even the washing machine operated. The fire department has an additional source of quenching water and, before all, we thereby save no end of costly drinking water.

Yet that is not enough. When more people have rainwater use installations in their homes, then fewer retention basins will be required and then the canalization will be facilitated. Local communities which now already work at their limit of capacity would no longer be forced to build and maintain this infrastructure on the same scale. Thus are rainwater use installations the optimal answer to climate change. They put us in the position to stop the injurious masses of water during flooding and the conversion to costly substitute drinking water during times of drought.

Rainwater use installations are a return investment in the future. If one considers how much savings they make possible – less consumption of drinking water, less required infrastructure, relief of purification installations – then one recognizes: These installations are definitely worth being promoted. The uses for the general public far exceed the investment costs and that is only the financial aspect.

…

However, in regards the implementation, one thing for me is quite especially important. Already, the people no longer find affordable housing in the cities. Let us prevent that we simply attach the rainwater use installations to the anyway already existing wish list for new construction.

You know what I’m talking about. Building insulation, solar cells and roof vegetation. If we now also increase the expense of construction in the country, where will the people live? With this motion, we now have the opportunity to take care that all are able to profit therefrom: The homeowner, the renter, the local communities, the insurers and – with the avoidance of flood damages – the entire country. Here it is a matter of adapting, with a good eye and factual understanding, to the actual situation of the locality, which is possible and, before all, sensible.

…

Basically, we stand before the question, How do we want in the future to shape the roofs? How do we want to use the surface? For rainwater use installations or for solar energy? It is all the same whether photovoltaic or solar thermal: This allows combining all with one another without a problem. The water still flows off the roof surface and will be captured.

Finally, I arrive at the second part of our motion. Because less water will be consumed, some local communities, on the basis of particular relations with the water works associations, have as a result financial disadvantages. In clear text: Local communities which save water pay for that. That is rubbish and urgently needs to be changed. The increased costs need then be necessarily shifted to the citizens, and those who possess no rainwater use installations will then be financially disadvantaged.

Let us in common build infrastructure secured for the crises of the coming decades. For as we know since “William Tell”: The wise man takes precautions.

…

This time, jump over your shadows, show some backbone and vote for the AfD’s motion [Drucksache 17/748], as we also ever again vote for your motions, because it is about the interests of the citizens and not those of the politicians. Here and now you have the opportunity to demonstrate that you are ready to place the welfare of the country and its citizens above party interests.

            Udo Stein (AfD): They would then need to resign!

 

 

[trans: tem]