Another addition to the cofa Blog Transcript Project
“We have problems in rural areas. We have a sentiment of migration which many feel is too strong. Criminality has increased.” Read transcript of 'Stop calling voters neo-Nazis and take them seriously' says German ambassador to UK" Sky News Sunday Morning 09.01 video linked below.
Q -Good morning, ambassador. You are no doubt observing this very very carefully. Could we just start by explaining why these elections are so significant?
A= they are significant because we have this
year three regional elections in east Germany and they will be one of the major
tests before we have general election September next year.
And are these particular states very
significant because they're populous or because they are, if you like, a
weather vein? Or is it simply that they're appointed to what might happen next
year?
No I think they are. Somehow they represent
obviously a trend which we are seeing not only in Germany but all over Europe.
You just had the senator from the us speaking
about the division within his country, we see a growing discontent. And this
discontent, what the prime minister Starmer called snake oil populism, is
everywhere. And it's reflected now in these state elections in east Germany.
And as your colleague rightly said we might see for the first time- let's wait
for the results- but we might see it for the first time a far right party
winning a state election.
!!!
In east Germany we might see it for the first time a far right party winning a
state election
!!!
But Trevor, I think it's very important to
underline, in German politics we have what we call a firewall. Firewall means
nobody cooperates with a far right. So they will not gain power, they will be
isolated, it will not be easy to form a coalition around them. But this is
definitely the willingness of the other parties.
Q- I want to come back to that in a second but I
wonder if you could just explain- I mean these people aren't they're not
compelling people to vote for them what is the appeal here is it what Shobdon
was talking about the purely the issue of migration and so on the migration
from the middle east
A: first I would say it's not a phenomenon only
of east Germany. We have the AFD also in western Germany but they are stronger
in the east. And there are some phenomena which have to do, for example, with
years of communism, that people don't feel as affiliated as in the west to the
traditional parties.
We have problems in rural areas. We have a
sentiment of migration which many feel is too strong. Criminality has increased.
So there are many factors which are feeding in
to this sentiment- the war in Ukraine, the cost of living crisis, all of this
is creating a feeling that the life has become more complicated, that maybe the
situation of the their sons and daughters will not be as good as their own
situation. So all of that feeds in.
But we should not forget, more than half of the
people don't vote, vote the extremes because they know that politics is
complicated and requires long-term solutions, and this is the day-to-day fight
we need to have.
Q: you spoke of this firewall?
A: well actually I think they tried this to
some extent in France against Leen. They've tried it in the Netherlands. One
has to say that actually the tactic seems to fail because parties like the AFD
are in government, in Sweden in Italy in fact they run the government in Italy Denmark
and probably will be in the Netherlands.
Q- is there a danger that the lineup of let's
call it the traditional conventional parties simply emphasizes the message from
these radical right parties?
!!!
the British prime minister in berlin spoke on action
plan on migration. But he spoke also about this snake old populism.
!!!
A: you see they're all against you, the people,
they're not listening to you. And they are going to all get together simply to
stop your voice being heard.
Now my personal feeling is we should stop calling
the voters neo-Nazis. These are people who protest with their vote. So we have
to take this serious. And we have to try to address that. And you know Trevor-
We just had some days ago a very successful
visit of the prime minister to Berlin, and they spoke about an ac- yes about
the British prime minister in berlin action plan on migration. But he spoke
also about this snake old populism. And we have to deliver. I think delivery is
the key issue.
Q: how can we win back the protest vote?
A: only
by delivery and this is what needs to be strengthened. And I would put this
really in the broader context of the reset of the united kingdom in its
relationship towards the European union. It's about Ukraine it's about our
bilateral relationship….
We also had a terrible terrorist attack by a Syrian
refugee which has highlighted the necessity that we need to be able to deport
criminals who came among the asylum seekers. So we want you know-
What we need is really a possibility to deport
those who have been criminal and to integrate the others. So we want to make
both. And we just had yesterday for the first time since the Taliban took over
in Afghanistan we deported Afghan criminals back to Kabul.
Q: ambassador thank you very much for your time
this morning. (auto-generated transcript, cleaned for readability)
Watch video: “Stop calling voters neo-Nazis and
take them seriously, says German ambassador to UK”
At Sky News channel on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bclu-nrdxt8
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Weblogged by Kay Ebeling
Volunteering my blog to the effort to get Kamala
Harris elected, one reader at a time.
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