Göring-Eckardt: "AfD values can be brought back down"

Ahead of the 2024 election year, Green politician Katrin Göring-Eckardt has called for more interest in and respect for the life experience of East Germans. "I would also like to see more of the East Germans in my own party," said the Vice President of the Bundestag in an interview with the German Press Agency. The Thuringian added: "We showed once in '89 that we can win democracy. And now we have to defend it as East Germans."

The three East German states of Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg have state elections next year, and the AfD is number one in the polls in all three states. The Greens' ratings in Thuringia are just below the five percent hurdle, in the other two states they are slightly above it.

Göring-Eckardt admitted that there is certainly support for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in the east, but also a lot of hostility. "I explain this by the fact that we as a party stand for change, for progress, for diversity. I think that stresses people out. After a pandemic and in times of war and crisis, they long for peace and quiet."

"If you want a neck steak, eat a neck steak"

She rejected the accusation of being a party of prohibition. "I don't want to dictate to anyone what or how they eat, what or how they speak," said the 57-year-old. "If you want a neck steak, eat a neck steak." But: "If you reflect the true cost of it to some extent, then it's no longer available for less than two euros. We have to endure this honesty together."

Göring-Eckardt sharply criticized the AfD, which in turn often comes down hard on the Greens. "The AfD is creative in inventing alleged bans that the Greens wanted," she said. "This is an organization that is good at saying no and rabble-rousing. It offers nothing for the concrete concerns of people in everyday life. It stirs up hatred and agitation."

With a view to future elections, Göring-Eckardt predicted: "You can get the AfD's ratings down again." The decisive factor is the confidence of the traffic light coalition in itself, the confidence of the people in politics and of politics in the people. "I have no desire to give up before we have even started. Before the three state elections in eastern Germany, the sun rises and falls very often."

From eight to midnight in the Bundestag

Göring-Eckardt admitted that people in rural areas or small towns often felt forgotten by federal politics. But: "It's not true that MPs don't know what's going on," she said. "They're not just in Berlin, they're out and about in their constituencies, visiting clubs or businesses. MPs also have families, the children go to school, to sport, they go shopping."

She has spent most of her private life in the village for decades. In Berlin, politicians sometimes sit in the buildings of the German Bundestag from eight in the morning until midnight. "But we spend the other half of our time in real life. That's where we find out what works and what doesn't."