Germany: Merkel faces criticism as Bundestag holds discussion on €30bn aid package to flood victims

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Chancellor Merkel was faced with criticism from the AfD (Alternative for German) leadership during a sitting of the Bundestag on Wednesday.

The sitting discussed a €30 billion ($35 billion) aid package for victims of the heavy rain and flooding seen in July 2021.

“These last weeks and months of Chancellor Merkel’s government are sinking into sequences of crisis which are marked by wrong decisions, failure to act and government failure,” commented AfD chancellor candidate and party leader Alice Weidel.

“The attempts to instrumentalise the suffering of flood victims for the forcing of climate protection [policy] is an especially scruffy manoeuvrer of one’s own ignorance and incoherence,” added Weidel.

Weidel argued that “mistakes and failures” that have been “brought to light” by the disasters should “not be not be allowed to be concealed.”

SPD (Socialist Democratic Party)chancellor candidate and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz described the package as “an impressive sign of solidarity” and a show that Germany is “standing together as a country.”

Weidel’s statements were criticised by CDU (Christian Democratic Union) chancellor candidate and party leader Armin Laschet, who argued that an attempt to create “an impression that the country is split” were untrue.

The aid package was given a green light from the government on August 10 as part of a response to a crisis which has displaced thousands and killed over 180 people.

SOUNDBITES:

SOT, Olaf Scholz, SPD chancellor candidate and Finance Minister (German): ”For us it is important that we do what can be done at this point, namely to show solidarity and help those who can be helped.”

SOT, Olaf Scholz, SPD chancellor candidate and Finance Minister (German): “It was acted upon quickly, with the immediate help, which was agreed on by the counties and government, and now it is about the reconstruction of what has been destroyed. It will be 30 billion euros, with 2 billion alone for the infrastructure of the country and 28 billion for all of the destruction I have spoken about earlier.”

SOT, Olaf Scholz, SPD chancellor candidate and Finance Minister (German): “I think it is an very impressive sign of solidarity, an impressive sign of solidarity that we are setting as a state, because we say this is not a matter of the people out there alone who are facing these challenges right now, but it is a matter for the whole country and we are standing together as a country.”

SOT, Alice Weidel, AfD chacnellor candidate and party leader (German): “These last weeks and months of Chancellor Merkel’s government are sinking into sequences of crisis which are marked by wrong decisions, failure to act and government failure.”

SOT, Alice Weidel, AfD chancellor candidate and party leader (German): “The attempts to instrumentalise the suffering of flood victims for the forcing of climate protection [policy] is an especially scruffy manoeuvrer of one’s own ignorance and incoherence.”

SOT, Alice Weidel, AfD chancellor candidate and party leader (German): “The mistakes and failures, the cases of state and council failures and the structural deficiencies, which have been brought to light through this flooding catastrophe, should not be allowed to be concealed.”

SOT, Armin Laschet, CDU chancellor candidate and party leader (German): “First of all we thinking of the victims and their relatives in this flood disaster, and we have to think about those who has survived but who have lost everything in their life.”

SOT, Armin Laschet, CDU chancellor candidate and party leader (German): “[The] Responsibility of the Federal government and country is to do what we can and that means we have to help those who are standing in front the economic debris of existence and therefore we have said shortly after the flooding disaster, that every single person can count on the solidarity of our society through reconstruction and new beginning.”

SOT, Armin Laschet, CDU chancellor candidate and party leader (German): “You (Alice Weidel, AfD chancellor candidate and party leader) are creating the impression that this country is split and I am telling you, and now he is saying yes it is, I am inviting you to come into the regions (regions affected by flooding) to see how much solidarity and engagement there was, it is not true that our country is split, it just not true.”

#Bundestag #GermanyFloods #Germany

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