Tino Chrupalla, September 28, 2022, Nord Stream Gas Pipelines

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/56, pp. 6151-6152.

Right honorable Herr President. Right honorable ladies and gentlemen. Dear countrymen.

I think there is for a question time no more important theme than precisely this theme of blackout. This today we have also seen in what concerns a blackout in question 7, unanswered by the government.

            Kassem Taher Saleh (Greens): You were not even on the floor!

That is what agitates the citizens, that is what agitates the Mittelstand, what agitates the economy, what agitates industry. And then of course is added the destructive scenario of yesterday, the sabotage attack on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2.

            Timon Gremmels (SPD): You know more, or what?

The loud silence of the Federal government actually shows that here up to now no answers were given. Therefore I think it is important that we here speak of it in the plenary debate.

Of the background and the responsibility, we presently know little to nothing. One thing is established: It was directed against Germany, against our economy and this also shows how amazing we are.

            Michael Kruse (FDP): Economic war!

In consideration of the present situation, I will not here today undertake to name a guilty party as has been already done by leading politicians of other parties, of your delegations. For whom it is established: Russia has sabotaged its own pipelines. – When you advance such assertions, the question really needs be asked whether you actually also have valid evidence of that.

I here and today only know that many scenarios are conceivable, though only a few are likely. Allow me to briefly enter a couple of facts so as to allow you yourselves to make a picture.

In August of this year, Poland’s President Andresz Duda demanded that Nord Stream 2 should be demolished [abreissen]. Yesterday, after pictures presumed to be of escaping gas were published on the internet, the Polish European member and former Polish Foreign Minister Radislav Sikorski immediately commented on Twitter: “Thanks, USA”. And the Polish President Mateusz Morawiecki was cited by the Wirtschaftswoche at the inauguration of a Baltic Pipe compressor station in the vicinity of Stettin:

The era of the Russian mastery in regards the gas theme goes to an end – an era marked by extortion, threats and coercion.

Thus can Norwegian natural gas flow through Denmark to Poland.

Already at the beginning of February of this year, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, announced that should Russia attack the Ukraine, there would no longer be a Nord Stream 2; an end will be made of it. Nord Stream 2 was thereupon employed by Chancellor Scholz as a means of sanction. The CDU under your chairman, Herr Merz, demanded already in March sanctions against Nord Stream 1. The FDP delegation was quite eager for a resolution wanting to demolish Nord Stream 2.

So much for how the support of the Mittelstand and the economy appears! Yesterday, that must have really been for you a swollen heart, ladies and gentlemen!

According to current media reports, the CIA already in the summer of this year warned the Federal government it could come to attacks on pipelines and underwater cables. If this had been so, the question needs be permitted: Why did they not inform the Federal government or the parliamentary representatives or, for example, the Defense Committee? Why does the chairman of the Defense Committee now indeed speak of a guilty Russia? Again, the questions need be asked: Have you more knowledge and why not present it to the parliament?

Why are all representatives of the Federal government, like the Chancellor, Economy Minister, Foreign Minister, Defense Minister, currently silent on this situation? Can the security of Germany and Europe – many citizens and businessmen ask themselves this – still be guaranteed, or do military confrontations in additional parts of the continent now follow your economic war, Herr Habeck?

Michael Kruse (FDP): Yet that is not our economic war! What are you saying? Putin began the economic war!

Yet your duty as Federal government is to defend the critical infrastructure. That is the duty of the Federal government. We therefore demand a rapid and complete clarification without prejudice [Vorverteiling] and we demand the immediate repair, the rapid as possible reactivation [Instandsetzung] of the Nord Stream pipelines. Here, it is about our country and our citizens.

            Michael Kruse (FDP): Why? Already for weeks, no more gas comes through!

            Dieter Janecek (Greens): Vladimir Putin’s megaphone here in the                                            German Bundestag!

As all of you know and see, the problems before us become ever more complex: The galloping inflation, the instability of our currency, the lack of sovereignty in the energy supply. We now see exactly all these problems which all of you in this house have constructed: The difficulties of  securing the subsistence of many citizens, the non-diminishing migration streams which are still to come, and now also attacks on infrastructure without which we actually cannot exist. We require an affordable, feasible energy supply capable of the base load – and with Russian gas.

That is exactly what our economy and prosperity are founded on. Uninterrupted and persistent, you, valued Federal government, bring this motor to a standstill. You explain that the delivery of heavy weapons to war zones would end the conflict, and thereby make yourselves culpable for a new proxy war of the U.S.A. –

            Vice-president Wolfgang Kubicki: Herr colleague, come to a conclusion, please.

on our doorstep and on the backs of the Ukrainian, the Russian and apparently soon on that of the German peoples.

            Michael Kruse (FDP): “Proxy war of the USA”? Russia began the war!

Therefore: Clarify completely this attack on the gas pipelines 1 and 2.

            Vice-president Wolfgang Kubicki: Herr colleague, please.

End the economic sanctions!

            Vice-president Wolfgang Kubicki: Herr colleague, please come to a conclusion.

End the economic war and make peace on the continent of Europe.

Many thanks.

 

[trans: tem]

 

Jochen Haug, September 22, 2022, EU Citizens Initiative

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/54, pp. 5928-5929.

Frau President. Ladies and gentlemen.

We today debate the law to amend the European citizens initiative by which themes can be brought to the EU Commission without the EU Commission being obligated to become substantially active therein. Understand: This toothless tiger is to give the EU a democratic coating. It is nothing more than a simulation of democracy in an undemocratic EU.

Were the EU a state which proposed its acceptance to the EU, the motion would need to be rejected – due to a lack of democratic substance.

Martin Schulz, formerly here with the SPD, then still President of the EU Parliament, said that. Herr Schulz quite correctly acknowledged: A parliament without a right of initiative, a parliament with restricted budgetary rights, based on an election law which violates the fundamental of election freedom, is in fact lacking in democratic substance.

To that pertain political discussions without a common public as a sounding board and a state power without a homogenous state people. That is rule almost without accountability. That is the dream of every technocrat. And a strengthening of the European citizens initiative would not contribute a solution to this problem. On the contrary: Every strengthening of the EU leads to a weakening of the national states. Yet only on the national level can democracy be earnestly lived. What we really need here is the introduction of direct democracy at the Federal level in Germany.

Right honorable colleagues, if you want to promote elements of direct democracy, then begin that here. Say yes to referendums on all questions concerning the national sovereignty. Say yes to referendums on amendments of the Basic Law. Say yes to the facultative referendum which gives to the citizens the opportunity to bring to a vote laws decided on by the parliament. In Switzerland especially, these instruments have been absolutely preserved. These are all points which we for years demand, which you however, out of fear of the sovereign, the German people, reject.

We of the AfD do not want that Germany be governed from Brussels and in that regard we hold that foreign citizens demands with effect, via the Commission, in Germany are fundamentally wrong. We therefore reject this draft law.

Thank you.

 

[trans: tem]

 

 

 

Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel, September 26, 2022, Giorgia Meloni

AfD Kompakt, September 26, 2022.

According to initial projections, the Italians have voted for Giorgia Meloni, her party the Fratelli d’Italia, as well as their partners the Lega and Forza Italia, with an absolute majority in both chambers of parliament. We of the Alternative für Deutschland congratulate Giorgia Meloni on her election and hope, as the first woman at the head of an Italian government, that she may stand [stehen möge]. Despite all the undemocratic warnings from EU Commission President von der Leyen and other politicians, the Italians, as previously the Swedish Democrats, have decided on a political turn. And that is their good, democratic right. The Fratelli d’Italia’s election success is an additional victory of reason. Germany, with its left-green Ampel coalition, seemingly stands alone in Europe.

 

[trans: tem]

 

Alexander Gauland, September 22, 2022, After the War

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/54, pp. 5873-5874.

Herr President. Ladies and gentlemen.

Seldom have the hallowed principles of our post-1945 self-understanding been so mercilessly sacrificed on the altar of a false Realpolitik: We deliver no weapons to areas of tension. We defend only ourselves and our NATO partners. And at least: Sanctions are not allowed to more harm us than those sanctioned. – All blown away, all is yesterday’s snow.

We have long since become party to a confrontation which does not concern us, and each day we become it more. We are sliding on a steep plane into participation in a conflict which is not ours. It is simply not true that in the Ukraine our freedom is defended,

            Dietmar Nietan (SPD): Of course!

that Herr Putin, as per the Ukrainian President, wants to again erect the Berlin Wall.

Yes, the Ukraine defends itself in a post-Czarist and post-Soviet conflict.

            Johann David Wadephul (CDU/CSU): A Wagenknecht speech, you                                        are giving here!

Yes, the war is counter to international law and Putin’s goal of a reconstruction of the old Great Russia is out of date. Yet it is not our conflict. It touches on no German interests,

            Bengt Bergt (SPD): It is not so!

the consequences however very much so. We most feel our sanctions against Russia. If oil and gas become unaffordable, it is because we, as Frau Wagenknecht in this place correctly stated,

            Johann David Wadephul (CDU/CSU): See! Horseshoes!

are conducting an economic war against Russia and deny to ourselves an undertaking of Nord Stream 2. We have placed ourselves, ladies and gentlemen, on one side and must now unfortunately live with the consequences.

The Union now wants to go a step further and make us a war party with the delivery of heavy weapons. That is surely thus irresponsible because it would be our duty in all diplomatic channels to limit the war so as to end it, just after the latest developments of the partial mobilization.

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP): Yes, an additional promotional tour in the eastern Ukraine! Didn’t you send people there? 

The chancellor has said from here, Putin is not allowed to win this war.

            Marianne Schieder (SPD): He is right!

To that, I add: He is also not allowed to lose it;

            Sara Nanni (Greens): Nevertheless, he must.

            Bengt Bergt (SPD): He will lose it!

since an atomic power has the means to avert this defeat. President Biden’s concern is thus justified and we should take it seriously. We are therefore not allowed to fan the flames, but we need to help stamp them out.

The delivery of heavy weapons does the opposite, ladies and gentlemen.

From Otto von Bismarck originates the observation – cite:

            Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP): Now comes the poor Otto!

It is easy for a statesman…, to sound the war trumpets with the popular winds and thus warm himself at his fireside. Yet woe to the statesman who in this era seeks a war for a reason which is not still valid after the war.    

Herr Wadephul, yours unfortunately is not.

I am grateful.

 

[trans: tem]

 

             

Joana Cotar, September 6, 2022, Digital Deutschland

German Bundestag, September 6, 2022, Plenarprotokoll 20/49, pp. 5280-5281.

Frau President. Valued colleagues.

All real property owners could just recently confirm how good digitalization is in Germany as they attempted, reporting by Elster, to fill out the questionnaire for the new property tax.

             Detlef Müller (SPD-Chemnitz): No problem! Half an hour!

The result: The program went directly down and was no longer to be reached. Welcome to Digital Deutschland 2022! Welcome to a digital developing country!  

That was the tip of the imputation exacted from the citizens. Germany is not in the position to gather together the information lying in the most diverse offices so that the officials themselves can figure the property tax. What nonsense, ladies and gentlemen!

Yes, much is promised in the new digital strategy. This time success shall be measurable, and each Ministry is allowed to contribute projects – whereby “allowed” is the wrong word; since it does not occur voluntarily. On the contrary: The first projects presented to Minister Wissing were so unambitious, so powerless and gutless, that the Minister decreed an after-hours round for the ministerial officials. Therein alone is seen that the majority of this government still have not grasped how our country must be overhauled.

In Germany at the end of 2021, only 7 percent of all broadband connections had fiber optic. In South Korea it is 87 percent, in Spain 79 percent; even Colombia and Costa Rica have overtaken us.

The online access law should provide for that our administration finally becomes digital. By the end of 2022, 575 administrative services should be available online, from the motor vehicle report to wedding announcements. Now guess how many will in fact be available at year’s end. 50! 50 of 575 – a crazy circumstance, ladies and gentlemen. And your solution: You extend the time period – it will surely work out – sometime or other.  

Cyber attacks cost the German economy up to 200 billion euros per year. Operators of critical infrastructure see themselves especially threatened. Where is your concrete answer to that, dear government? Instead of that, you exhibit an unyielding aversion against innovative technologies. Blockchain is meanwhile completely lacking in your strategy – a key technology which you completely ignore. For that, you speak of a “feminist digital policy”. What, God willing, should that be?

            Stephan Berandner (AfD): I ask myself that!

            Isabel Cadematori Dujisin (SPD):  I can gladly clarify!

Ladies and gentlemen, you are now almost a year in government and you still have not once managed to put forward a digital budget; we have heard it. This failure ensues when competences are not bundled in one place and no one bears responsibility, but it is shared by many various ministries which lack the passion for digital…this fragmentation nevertheless has one advantage and indeed for Minister Wissing; since if it again does not work out, he can shove off all responsibility from himself and say: The ministries are guilty. That is almost as practical as Olaf Scholz’s memory lapses, ladies and gentlemen. 

It is however less practical to have a minister who may have a say on digitalization yet has no idea of it. Thus in an interview Frau Faeser demanded so-called hackbacks in case of an attack, only to re-pulp this wish a few weeks later and demand the opposite. First she greeted the initiative for chat control by the EU, then she rejected it, although not entirely so. I am anxious as to what is to come of it. And before all things, I am anxious as to how the FDP will react to that. Following special funds, vaccination obligation, NetzDG [Internet Enforcement Law] and the new infection protection law à la Lauterbach, I therefrom proceed to that those who have betrayed freedom for a ministerial post will also here change their minds, ladies and gentlemen.

The Ampel’s hitherto digital performance is wanting. Yet there is now nevertheless the e-prescription. My absolute highlight in that regard: One can print the digital prescription and so go to the drugstore because the app, first and last, does not work. We are thereby again at the beginning of my speech: Welcome to Digital Deutschland 2022! Welcome to a digital developing country!

Many thanks.

            Maximilian Funke-Kaiser (FDP): Good, you contribute nothing constructive!                        Hearty thanks for this constructive speech!

 

[trans: tem]