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WORLD Ms Strack-Zimmermann, Baden-Württemberg FDP State President Michael Theurer, made a tender offer to controversial green politician Boris Palmer. Boris Palmer at the FDP: a good idea?
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann: Michael Theurer and Boris Palmer have been good friends since the mayor’s time. However, we definitely don’t want Mr. Palmer in our ranks. If you look at what he said in the last days, months, years, it becomes clear that Palmer is not a liberal, and that is why we do not need him. He should stay where he belongs: at his town hall in Tübingen, with the book of the Feast of the Greens.
WORLD Theurer argues that the FDP represents freedom of expression and is the home of critical minds.
Strack-Zimmermann: Boris Palmer’s statement to older people that they would soon die anyway, Corona or not, is disrespectful and deeply inhumane. Of course, given the Corona crisis, we have a lot to discuss. The question does not arise.
But it is not the first time that it has crossed borders: nobody has the right to judge which life is worth living and which is not. We are a liberal party in which opinions are exchanged and passionately discussed. But that does not mean that we make our own opinions. Palmer is not a liberal, Palmer is a pure self-portrait.
WORLD The leader of his party, Christian Lindner, also likes to point out.
Strack-Zimmermann: In these dazzling times of Corona, which are new and unique to all of us, it is a great challenge to find the right balance between protecting health, preserving civil rights, and the stage for what sensible opening strategies can be. This is a discussion we have to have and what we do. There are different points in the form of expression. But we do well to distance ourselves from extreme opinions and conspiracy theories.
WORLD Thomas Kemmerich, head of the FDP in Thuringia, does not. Along with AfD representatives, he spoke out against restrictions to combat the pandemic, and that very close to each other and without mouth protection.
Strack-Zimmermann: I am personally very disappointed with Thomas Kemmerich, whom I was able to experience as a very nice colleague until early February. Obviously, he’s not only physically seeking proximity to the AfD now, but conspiracy theorists as well, and he’s probably liked his democratically destructive course now too.
I think his behavior is extremely damaging to the party, and after the electoral debacle in Thuringia this can no longer be dismissed as a single aberration. My very personal opinion is: we, as the FDP Federal Executive, should ask Thomas Kemmerich to take off his hat and leave the FDP.
WORLD After the Thuringia debacle, much was said about the inner work. How can it be that Thomas Kemmerich is deviating again? Does the party leadership no longer have the store under control?
Strack-Zimmermann: There is no par ordre du mufti with the free Democrats, who especially defend democracy and freedom of expression. But unfortunately there are always people who are afraid of meaninglessness and therefore like to say out loud: the main thing is that they appear in public. Thomas Kemmerich seems to be an example of this.
The party has to react now because we have 66,000 members who, as free Democrats, fight honestly and with a strong commitment to freedom at all levels. We cannot allow one individual to torpedo the commitment of many liberals.
WORLD There have recently been repeated criticisms of the communication by party leaders, for example, Wolfgang Kubicki’s statements criticizing science. Palmer’s invitation and Kemmerich’s demonstration now follow. Has the FDP been misled in its external impact on the Corona crisis?
Strack-Zimmermann: After the Thuringia debacle, the parliamentary group in the German Bundestag formed a working group in which we discussed the demarcation of right-wing populism. I am a member myself. This working group works very effectively. The Corona crisis is a hitherto unprecedented challenge for everyone in Germany and even around the world, in which everyone is looking for answers. We all have to grope together. Free Democrats are very interested in an objective discussion.
Boris Palmer must not be excluded from the party
There are rumors within the Green Party, also due to a dispute over Boris Palmer’s new statements. An exclusion from the party, as some demand, does not seem to threaten the Mayor of Tübingen.
