12/16/2024December 16, 2024
Opposition leader Merz slams SPD: ‘You have brought shame on Germany’
The leader of the opposition CDU Friedrich Merz accused the ruling coalition of hypocrisy. He spoke ahead of a confidence vote over Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government.
“The chancellor spoke a lot about respect, but it seems as though his respect ends where other political opinions begin,” he said, before calling it “shameless” to have spoken so highly of his accomplishments but so badly of the FDP, who he said helped him achieve all of them.
He further asked why, if Scholz foresaw so much room for progress, the SPD hadn’t accomplished any of it “in the 22 years of the last 26” when it was part of Germany’s governing coalitions.
“Where were you for the last 22 years?” he asked.
Merz went on to criticize the funding of the military, the reaction to record-high inflation and an economic crisis, and Scholz’s perceived lack of clarity and outspokenness on global issues over the last several years.
“You have brought shame on Germany” in front of the EU and other allies, Merz said.
He also praised the FDP for what he described as trying to prevent the ruling SPD and Greens from raising taxes. Arguments over the national budget played a major role over the collapse of Scholz’s coalition.
Returning to the topic of the economy, Merz also implied that Germans do not work enough, citing neighboring Switzerland as a positive example, where people “work on average 200 hours more” a year. The conservative leader said that working more hours was necessary for “making Germany more competitive.”
These statements were met with loud consternation by other lawmakers.
