[ad_1]
Berlin (dpa) – The surprising death of Bundestag Vice President Thomas Oppermann has caused deep consternation on all sides. The 66-year-old SPD politician collapsed Sunday night, minutes before a planned interview with ZDF, as the television station said Monday.
Initially there was no information on the cause of death.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier praised Oppermann as a “strong-willed fighter for democracy, the rule of law, progress and justice.” Oppermann was always an independent and unmistakable character in his offices: “a personality who did not submit to the zeitgeist and whose political thought did not stop at ideological borders.”
The SPD reacted in shock. “Time stands still,” MP Sören Bartol wrote on Twitter. Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) emphasized: “Our country is losing an accomplished politician, the Bundestag a prominent vice president, and the SPD a passionate and combative comrade. We are all losing a friend, and we are saddened.”
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) was also deeply saddened. “For many years I have valued him as a trustworthy and fair Social Democratic partner in large coalitions,” he said of Oppermann, according to government spokesman Steffen Seibert. As vice-president of the Bundestag, he “made outstanding contributions to our parliament in turbulent times.”
The leader of the SPD parliamentary group, Rolf Mützenich, praised Oppermann for “his courageous and practical manners.” SPD Secretary General Lars Klingbeil wrote on Twitter that he valued Oppermann as a conversation partner and advisor. “You could laugh with him. His passion for politics was palpable to everyone. His death too soon surprises me.” Party chairmen Norbert Walter-Borjans and Saskia Esken noted: “We are proud that Thomas was one of us.” They expressed their condolences to the family, Oppermann’s partner and their four children.
According to information from ZDF, Oppermann was invited on Sunday as a guest for a live interview on the “Berlin direkt” program on the topic “Bundestag and Crown”. He was supposed to switch from the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen to the program. While the first post was running, it suddenly crashed. Then Oppermann was transferred to the University Hospital in Göttingen. “The entire ‘Berlin direkt’ team is shocked and deeply affected,” said ZDF capital studio director Theo Koll. Even in the preliminary talk, Oppermann seemed relaxed as usual.
The SPD politician, who had grown up politically in Lower Saxony, announced in late August that he would not run again in the federal elections in 2021. “After 30 years as a member of the Lower Saxony state parliament and the German Bundestag, now it is the right time to do something different and undertake new projects, “he said at the time.
Especially after this announcement, Oppermann was “full of anticipation for the next projects”, reported the president of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Schäuble. “I remember him especially as a full-blooded MP.” As a member of the Bundestag, Oppermann understood a passionate exchange of blows, and as Vice President he was concerned with maintaining the dignity of the house. “We will miss him very much in this extremely challenging legislative period, especially due to the pandemic.”
Oppermann entered the Bundestag in 2005. From 2013 to 2017, the lawyer was chairman of the SPD parliamentary group. He won his constituency of Göttingen four times in a row. More recently, he called for a reduction of the Bundestag.
Born in Westphalia, he had been a member of the Lower Saxony state parliament since 1990. In 1998, Prime Minister Gerhard Schröder (SPD) appointed him Minister of Science. It remained that way until the SPD was defeated in 2003.
Politicians from other parties also reacted in dismay at Oppermann’s death. “We are losing an intelligent, debatable and humorous politician and a staunch MP,” wrote FDP leader Christian Lindner on Twitter. CSU chief Markus Söder said: “He was a great and committed Democrat.” The leader of the CDU, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, declared that the SPD politician would be absent from political work.
Economy Minister Peter Altmaier (CDU) recalled the time they spent together as the parliamentary director of their parliamentary groups. “The conflict between the government and the opposition turned into friendship: that’s how we moved things,” he wrote. “You were a great democrat and a good guy.”
The leader of the left-wing party, Dietmar Bartsch, also described Oppermann as a good person: “trustworthy and passionate about the matter.” The leaders of the Greens, Katrin Göring-Eckardt and Anton Hofreiter, praised him as a staunch Democrat and parliamentarian. “And he was a happy and attractive person.”
The chairmen of the AfD parliamentary group Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland also spoke of a “great loss” and declared: “With him, the German Bundestag is losing a fair vice-president and an honest democrat who always cared about objectivity.”
The German Football Association (DFB) also lamented. Sports fan Oppermann was chairman of the DFB ethics committee. The president of the association, Fritz Keller, praised him as “a great personality, whose foresight, experience, but also whose sense of responsibility we need more than ever in times like these, when football and society as a whole clash. to great challenges “.
