Rüdiger Lucassen, January 19, 2024, Populism and Cruise Missiles

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/148, pp. 18939-18940. 

Frau President. Frau Defense Commissioner. Ladies and gentlemen. 

The CDU/CSU this week carves out motions in which it demands, free of charge, “more weapons for the Ukraine”: Day before yesterday Taurus cruise missiles, today one million artillery shells. What comes next? Atomic weapons?

             Marcus Faber (FDP): That is just rubbish!

Some of my colleagues name this CDU/CSU motion “populistic”. I find this not apt. The populist listens to what the people want and then implements it. Basically, the populist, as a politician, is an authentic employee of the people. 

            Marianne Schieder (SPD): O Gott!

Yet what the CDU here demands, the majority of Germans do not want. 

            Henning Otte (CDU/CSU): And you are a pacifist?

I know: Direct democracy is to the super democrats of this house a horror. But imagine for once a referendum as in Switzerland, and indeed on the question: Should Germany deliver to the Ukraine cruise missiles and one million artillery shells? My prognosis: You would receive not ten percent for this nonsense. 

Nein, ladies and gentlemen of the Union, with this motion, you do not want to make foreign policy – you want only to irritate the government. 

            Markus Grübel (CDU/CSU): Nein, we represent German interests!

And that as opposition is of course your good right, and it, ja, also works out well. For almost two years, the FDP’s lead candidate for the European Parliament, Frau Strack-Zimmermann, passes by no microphone without demanding more weapons for the Ukraine. Yet the day before yesterday she needed to submit to party discipline and vote against the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles. It is plainly so with the FDP’s convictions: At four percent in the polls and in a government which at anytime can fly apart, for a Strack-Zimmermann also is the shirt closer than the trousers. 

Politically, the CDU/CSU motion put forward is for two reasons nonsense. In the motion text is quite correctly stated the Bundeswehr’s stock of munitions is at a dangerously low level. Yet then the CDU demands under point 2, “to comply with…the Ukrainian request…for munitions… of all calibres…from the Bundeswehr’s stock to the greatest extent possible.” Here, colleague Otte apparently does not know his own motion. The CDU thus knows that the Bundeswehr is not defense-capable – yet despite this, it wants to further disarm. That surely has features of treason [Das hat schon Züge von Landesverrat]. 

            Henning Otte (CDU/CSU): You just had to say that!

And second: The war for the Ukraine will not be decided on the battlefield. Everyone knows that. It would meanwhile thus be a German responsibility to start a diplomatic great offensive from the Bundestag, 

            Sara Nanni (Greens): Oh ja!

instead of here calculating munitions needs. Were you statesmen, you would, immediately and with regard to the impending U.S. elections, begin such diplomacy and not waste additional time with such senseless motions. 

Many thanks. 

            Joe Weingarten (SPD): That is again the speech of the Russian press office! 

            Götz Frömming (AfD, turned to the CDU/CSU): Show window motions! 

 

[trans: tem]

 

 

 

Bernd Schattner, January 18, 2024, Farmers’ Protests

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/147, pp. 18622-18623. 

Many thanks. Frau President. Ladies and gentlemen. 

Since 18 December 2023, tens of thousands in Germany again go into the streets for their right to a self-determined future. 

            Karl Bär (Greens): Against the AfD!

Ever fewer people want to allow their lives to be dictated by a removed, left-green political elite. The people have recognized that this Ampel does not represent their interests, but pursues one-sided ideological goals without regard to this country and its citizens. 

If the income figures from 2021-22 are superficially looked at, which have been identified in the 2023 agriculture report, one could gain the impression that for the farmers it doesn’t go so bad. After all, an income increase of 50 percent in the conventional area was again attained; in the eco area, still more four percent was earned. Yet who now says: “These figures show that it goes well for the German agriculture”, completely fails to recognize the seriousness of the situation. These profits only still occur because the farmers meanwhile no longer carry out urgently necessary investments. No one still invests in a stable or tractor when he does not know whether this investment is accounted long-term. Many farmers today do not know whether tomorrow their stable construction fulfills the animal welfare prerequisites. Thus ever more agricultural entrepreneurs consider giving up. 

So it sounds harsh: Regrettably, many farmers have decided for surrender. After all, since the year 2020, 7,800 agricultural operations have closed for ever; that is five and a half operations per day, a tendency strongly rising. The present figures also show this. Thus meanwhile the profits of the high-earning operations in the 2023-24 year have again in part broken down by 53 percent. 

And what does our Agriculture Minister do? 

            Stephan Brandner (AfD): Where is he, actually? He’s gone already! He’s                                afraid of you!

He demands that our farmers make their contribution to the savings measures. – Ja gut, substantive themes apparently do not interest him. – It is inexplicable that the farmers in times of higher fuel prices should also accept the most massive tax increases for farm diesel. At the same time, our neighbors from Belgium and Luxemburg, without any taxation on farm diesel, drive with their tows. After the elimination of the reimbursement, beside the Dutch, the German farmers drive with Europe’s most expensive diesel. 

At this point, a look at the CDU is worthwhile. For a good year, they have rejected an AfD motion which has the goal of doubling the refund. 

            Stephan Brandner (AfD): The CDU rejects all that is good! 

            Johannes Steiniger (CDU/CSU): You want to abolish all subventions!

Interesting before all is the reason why the motion was rejected. It is said in the conclusion that the CDU rejects the motion since it regards diesel as an environmentally harmful material. Now at once, the great change: The CDU commits itself to the maintenance of the diesel refund. 

Alfred Stegemann (CDU/CSU):  The AfD wants to abolish all subventions!

That shows the hypocrisy of this party in the face of the farmers and the working population; since, for all that, it is the Union which introduced the idling of acreage and has pushed forward the bureaucratization of agriculture. To now portray themselves as saviors of agriculture is to the highest degree untrustworthy. 

Ladies and gentlemen, now to the enemies of the Mittelstand and the working class. The Ampel government plans to introduce the farmer soli, and would thereby burden the German consumer with an additional 3.6 billion euros per year – an absolutely scandalous plan which hits those who are least able. Meat and milk will thereby become still more expensive. The money will trickle into the trade, and never arrive at the producer. 

Herr Özdemir, with this measure you make the country’s Tafeln [food banks] into the new supermarkets, because no one can longer afford the meals. The cheap imports from the Mercosur states and eastern Europe will further weaken the domestic farmers. The Ampel government again demonstrates that it wants to ruin its own people. 

We therefore demand: No alibi motions, but authentic solutions for our farmers’ problems. The farmers want to live by the work of their hands, without continual patronization by the Politik, especially by the Greens. Germany has the best soils, the cleverest heads – with exception of the government – 

            Lisa Badum (Greens): Unfortunately not in the AfD!

and the best technique to manage agriculture. Yet sadly we have a government which does not know how to value these resources. 

I would like to close with a new farmer’s rule: Who knows nothing and can do nothing, he then joins the Greens. 

Many thanks. 

 

[trans: tem]

 

 

 

 

Bernd Baumann, January 18, 2024, Remigration and the AfD

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/147, pp. 18686-18687. 

Frau President. Ladies and gentlemen. 

Never before has a government driven our country up against the wall like this one – which today is again not here. The citizens suffer under exploding prices for energy and foodstuffs, as well as under a housing emergency, a heating law, kaputten bridges and roads, decaying schools. Industry flees out of the country, and millions of asylum seekers of foreign culture flow in unhindered. What a disaster! What a frightful balance, ladies and gentlemen! 

Germany shakes under the outcry of despairing farmers, truckers, tradesmen, restaurant owners. The emergency is great. The trust is gone; all surveys shows this. For example, Saxony: There, the SPD has shrunk to seven percent, 

            Stephan Brander (AfD): Still too much!

perhaps does not come again into the parliament, FDP and Greens also not. 

            Sven Lehmann (Greens): Do not celebrate too early!

And the AfD? It is well at 35 percent. We are presently five times as strong as the Chancellor’s party. So goes democracy, ladies and gentlemen! The voters punish you! The voters punish you with a primal force unique in the history of the Federal Republic. Panic spreads. One can virtually smell your fear! 

            Stephan Brander (AfD): Ja! It stinks! From the old parties’ fear! 

And what do you do about it? The higher the AfD’s polling numbers, the more maliciously you defame our party. That can again be certainly seen in this debate. You shrink from simply nothing. The level sinks to the unheard of. 

            Maya Wallenstein (SPD): It’s funny that you say that! 

            Stephan Brander (AfD): Strack-Rheinmetall!

Nothing better occurs to the FDP’s lead candidate for the European election. She designated the AfD as a dirty heap of filth, 

            Rasha Nasr (SPD): She’s right, there!

and the AfD’s over 10 million voters as dirty blow-flies – I cite: “The greater the heap of filth,” – thus the FDP lead candidate – “the more so flies sit thereon”. Pfui Teufel! 

            Stephan Brander (AfD): Nauseating!

When the voters withdraw the power from you, then they are insulted as “blow-flies”. That is your understanding of democracy. 

            Alice Weidel (AfD): An affront to the voters! 

Yet, for this arrogance, the voters will punish you at the ballot box! 

At the same time, you fundamentally falsify our political demands. An example: We demand, as ever, the return or remigration of all migrants who according to law and statute have no claim to protection. 

            Konstantin Kuhle (FDP): You learned that in Potsdam, or? 

It has to do with around 300,000 finally rejected asylum applicants and the foreigners who only temporarily have benefit of protection as civil war refugees. 

            Stephan Brander (AfD): Quite right! 

In Syria, the war is over! 

            Rasha Nasr (SPD): The war is not over! 

Thus, 600,000 Syrians need to return. Even Denmark, governed by Social Democrats, sends the Syrians home. That is the remigration which we demand. This remigration is not against law and constitution. It is the enforcement of law and constitution! We are the defenders of the state of law, and you are its opponents! 

You work here against us with the most malicious means. It has again been heard here today:  Politicians from the FDP and Union falsify our demands, particularly in regards the theme of remigration. And in the ARD’s “Tagesschau” was heard this week that under the term “remigration” the AfD understands the forced expulsion to the point of mass deportation of millions of people – 

            Britta Haßelmann (Greens): That is so!

thus your speeches, thus the ARD and ZDF. What an insidious campaign of politicians and journalists of the run-down left-green class! Yet, the citizens see through you! They no longer believe your nonsense! We experience the end of an epoch. We experience now here the end of the left-green dominance in Germany, ladies and gentlemen. 

Against this decline, Habeck, Kühnert & Co. defend themselves with all means. Thus even small, private debate clubs will be inflated into secret meetings dangerous to public safety; just as recently in Potsdam, a roundtable of businessmen, freelancers, who routinely meet for an exchange of ideas. This roundtable invited guests from the Politik, four from the CDU,

Stephan Brander (AfD): Hear, hear!

four from the AfD and two from the WerteUnion. What any speaker said or did not say cannot be associated with the CDU or the AfD. How desperate need one be to invent out of this a campaign against the AfD, as you here today are attempting? 

Ladies and gentlemen, the times in which such political illusionists had all the power are over. The wind turns. For Germany, something new comes. For Germany comes the AfD – whether you want it or not. 

            Rasha Nasr (SPD): Never again! 

 

[trans: tem]

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jörg Urban, January 8, 2024, Farmers’ Protests

AfD Kompakt, January 8, 2024. 

In regards the protests, we stand on the side of the farmers. The enthusiastic participation of tradesmen, shippers and a large part of the citizens shows: Our country urgently needs a change of politics. The green course of the established parties and the “climate transformation” of all areas of life moreover lead Germany to the abyss. 

We also in the future want affordable foodstuffs from the homeland. By means of fertilizer bans and a steadily increasing load of charges, the Federal and State government drive the domestic farmers to ruin. If this negative development is not stopped, we will soon need to feed ourselves by foodstuff imports. 

The CDU’s support of the protests is more than hypocritical. Certainly it has enormously increased the problems for the Saxon farmers, in that it has installed the Green Agriculture Minister Wolfram Günther in Saxony. And the steadily increasing CO₂ tax is an invention of the CDU. 

 

[trans: tem]

Dietmar Friedhoff, December 14, 2023, Food, Africa and the AfD

German Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 20/144, pp. 18370-18371. 

Herr President. Valued colleagues. 

Germany is stuck in a budget crisis, the people in Germany become poorer and the government distributes ever more money ever further to all the world. And the CDU now sets out to strengthen the worldwide food security, yet in that regard seemingly does not entirely grasp the realpolitischen facts. 

I first want to state that the 17 sustainability goals also apply for Germany. 

Deborah Düring (Green): Hä? You nevertheless normally do not want it. Be a bit congruent! 

Meaning: It is a top priority duty of the German government to also directly and successfully implement the 17 goals in Germany. Thus in this case: No hunger also in Germany. In Germany are presently six million people, of whom two million children, affected by nutrition poverty. According to the association of child and youth doctors, in Germany far over 500,000 children regularly suffer unallayed hunger – here, in Germany. Inflation, rising rent, benzine and energy prices, an ideological trucking fee and CO₂ duties will further intensify this situation. Germany becomes more and more a problem child and even a developing country. 

Question: If a country does not fulfill its own sustainability goals, how can it then set out wanting to fulfill them elsewhere? It sounds like the “You’ll never walk alone” of our Chancellor. It sounds like weitere Häme. It sounds like Doppel-Wumms and “change of times” [Zeitenwende]. 

Yet where are now the most starved? In Ethiopia, for example, the former development policy exhibit country. Here will be built with assistance of the United Arab Emirates a palace on a grounds of 500 hectares; cost, 15 billion euros, which corresponds to the Ethiopian state budget. 

            Wolfgang Stefinger (CDU/CSU): Yet not with development monies! Mein Gott!

The UN presently investigates in Ethiopia because assistance deliveries have vanished into obscure channels and have been converted to money. Finally: In the last 20 years in Ethiopia, a man-made de-forestation of over 60 percent has taken place as a result of the high increase of population. That and not climate change is the principal problem in regards dried-out ground, water scarcity and the decrease of agricultural area. 

            Deborah Düring (Green): Ach Gottchen! 

            Marianne Schieder (SPD): Oje, oje!

How now is this challenge to be solved? Solution: An end to the classic development policy, into an economic cooperation guided by German interests for a sustainable strengthening of the African continent. To that pertains: Who says A, needs also say fD. AfD is the solution. 

Industrialization of Africa for A: Value-creating, sustainable work and training places. Which is concerned with f: Financial Freiheit, Fortschritt und Förderung [freedom, progress and promotion] of African industry and infrastructure. Which ultimately has positive effects on D: Democratic processes, demographic challenges and Durchhaltefähighkeit [perseverance], thus the countries’ resilience. 

            Vice-president Wolfgang Kubicki: Come to a conclusion, please. 

Exactly this provides for food security also in Germany. 

            Vice-president Wolfgang Kubicki: Herr colleague. 

Sustainable, stable and effective – plainly AfD. 

Thank you. 

 

[trans: tem]

Maximilian Krah, December 13, 2023, Multipolarity

AfD Kompakt, December 13, 2023. 

The world increasingly changes and das ist gut so. It is unfortunate that EU elites do not understand this. They are suspended in forms of thought from the Cold War and evidently continue to stubbornly proceed from an intensification [Zuspitzung] between the U.S.A. and China. Yet the world is larger! Many growing nations gaining strength, like Brazil, Russia, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Korea, yet also Japan, are a great opportunity for Germany, since this multipolarity leads to a balancing equilibrium between the states. This in turn restricts the abuse of power by a single one, reduces the danger of arbitrary military intervention and reduces tensions and conflicts between states on the basis of the multiplicity of actors. Multipolarity leads to competition and innovation through rivalry [Konkurrenz]. Multipolarity promotes economic flexibility through a changing geo-political circumstance and thus can lead to prosperity and peace. 

 

[trans: tem]