The SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz faced the questions of the citizens on Tuesday evening in the ZDF program “Klartext” – and let the most explosive accusations rebound.
► This was when the tweet from his State Secretary Wolfgang Schmidt came up, which he published about the investigation against the anti-money laundering special unit of the customs. “That will now be clarified in a proper process and must also be clarified,” he said Tuesday evening. And: “The State Secretary tweets a lot, I can hardly understand what he is doing in detail.”
Scholz also evaded the question of the Wire Card scandal when the “Wire Card victim” Sabine Müller approached the candidate for chancellor. Müller has lost all of her fortune, said the Brandenburg woman. Who is responsible for it now?
► Scholz on this: “The fair has not yet been sung” and pointed out that he had already increased the legal pressure on the auditors. And: “We damn it – if something like this happens, take it as an opportunity to make really tough legal reforms and that’s what we did.”
Gender language
On the other hand, Scholz found clear words with the pensioner Michael Tänzer, who criticized the gender language. “We definitely have the feeling that you can no longer say what you want,” he complained. In addition, he feels that he is being manipulated when even the ZDF is gendere with asterisks. His question to Scholz: “What are you doing about this division in society?”
►Scholz presented himself as a feminist. Half of society is women, he replied, so it “makes sense to think about” how to use your language. He also advertised that he wanted to occupy half of his future cabinet with men and women in order to declare war on the misogynist “structures”.
The fact is: Many people changed to stand up against discrimination. That is why it is “part of the respect that everyone has different ways of dealing with it,” he said.
Survivors from Halle
The survivor of the terrorist attack in Halle, Anastassia Pletoukhina, also sat in the audience and asked how Scholz intends to fight anti-Semitism in society in the future.
Scholz said: “That is really quite dangerous and we have to do something about it.” His suggestion: the tightening of laws, for example regarding hatred and agitation on the Internet, and the expansion of a law promoting democracy.
SPD Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz is in the ZDF program “Klartext”Photo: ZDF
Left Alliance
At the end, Hans-Jürger Schwalbe put his finger in the wound: “Why don’t you want to say whether you want to form a coalition with the left or not?” He asked Scholz.
The SPD candidate for Chancellor said: “There are basic functions of our state that I do not want to negotiate,” said Scholz. This includes cooperation with the USA, a clear commitment to NATO and Europe, the “proper” funding of the Bundeswehr and a growing economy. These things are “indispensable” for him in the coalition negotiations, and he will “not negotiate with anyone” about them.
►A clear distancing did not come from Scholz’s lips.
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