The European elections are coming up. As Oliver Welke put it, these elections may well make or break Europe. Yet most people show little interest in them and that includes our politicians. Even Greta Thunberg’s emotional plea in the EU parliament has made no discernable difference. The posters of the Green party certainly don’t bother voters with any specific aims or policies. (Europa ist die beste Idee, die Europa je hatte,“Europe is the best idea Europe has ever had“, Kommt, wir bauen das neue Europa, “Come, let’s built the new Europe”,Kommt der Mut, geht der Hass, “When Courage comes, Hatred goes“ – Your guess is as good as mine!). The CSU candidate Manfred Weber wants to become the next president of the EU commission, so you might want to know what he’s planning to do. His priority is to secure European borders with more stringent border patrols on land and sea. Ten thousand additional border officials are to be employed. He wants better technologies and drones to improve border control. Weber is also planning to set up an European FBI. The CSU candidate takes a firm stand on a topic that no one is discussing anymore: Turkey joining the EU. Whereas the first two aims – border control, European FBI – aren’t spelled out on the campaign posters, the firm stand against Turkey joining the EU is. I doubt this will bring the conservative party many votes, but I’m sure it won’t go down well with the Turkish community here to bring this up without any cause. (1) Maybe they will be convinced by Weber’s master plan against cancer (his words not mine). Tellingly, the last point of Weber’s 12 point plan is the protection of the climate. You don’t need to be Greta Thunberg not to be convinced by his carefully worded, vague promises. One of the few parties with a strong emphasis on the environment is the ödp. This tiny party (1.6% in the last Bavarian elections) has repeatedly left a strong mark on Bavarian politics. By initiating various referendums they got rid of the Bavarian senate and university fees (which had just been introduced by the CSU). They also managed to overthrow the CSU initiative to loosen the EU wide smoking ban in public places. (At considerable personal cost to the ödp politician who stood for this campaign, Sebastian Frankenberger. After Frankenberger’s successful campaign he consequently became a persona non grata in many Bavarian pubs. He left the party and eventually moved to Austria.) The latest feat of the ödp was the immensely successful “Save the bees” campaign. Ödp politician Agnes Becker spearheaded this campaign. She is now one of the ödp candidates for the European election. Agnes Becker and and Manuela Ripa have started a European Initiative to "Save the bees". Other election posters and campaign videos make you aware how important these elections are, because they make your skin crawl. I’m mainly thinking of the Dritte Weg (“Third Way”) here, but there are others. (2) (1) It’s no secret that the Turkish community is the largest minority in Bavaria and elsewhere in Germany. Every year a large number of foreigners become German citizens. For some this is a much easier decision than for others since they can keep their other nationality. Turkish citizens are supposed to give up their Turkish citizenship. Every year the Bavarian interior minister meets a select few of the new German citizens: Everybody (bar the minister) gets a bunch of flowers and smiles into the camera. The greatest number of new German citizens usually were Turkish citizens. Nonetheless the community is snubbed year after year and not a single member has ever been invited to the Bavarian minister’s ceremony. What is the CSU gaining by this pointless, offensive behaviour? (2) In Munich, the Dritte Weg put up a campaign poster stating "Reserved for traitors of the nation" on the Square for the Victims of Nationalsocialism (Platz der Opfer des Nationalsozialismus in the city centre). The poster disappeared over night. Nonetheless, city councillor Dominik Krause (Green Party) and die Linke (Left Party) reported it to the police. When a similar poster was put up close to the NS Dokumentationszentrum, the institution reacted by waving the entrance fee until the day of the European elections, since "some campaign slogans demonstrate the need for information on the National Socialist era. We are adding an exclamation mark to #neveragain!". |
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