The Green Party politician Paula Piechotta sharply attacked Chancellor Olaf Scholz. SPD General Secretary Matthias Miersch speaks of a violation of agreements.
This explanation is not enough for SPD General Secretary Matthias Miersch. “Ms. Piechotta’s statements against Chancellor Olaf Scholz are not only disrespectful, but a blatant violation of the fairness agreement that has just been concluded,” Miersch tells t-online exclusively. Piechotta’s “attempt to downplay the degradation of the Chancellor through flippant tweets” doesn’t make things any better either.
In his criticism of Piechotta, Miersch also refers to the Green Party’s candidate for chancellor, Robert Habeck. “It is remarkable that a Green MP, whose candidate for chancellor Robert Habeck takes legal action against insults such as ‘imbecile’, is now making personal attacks against the Chancellor.” Anyone who demands respect should show it themselves.
Miersch is demanding “at least an apology” from the Bundestag member to the Chancellor. “Election campaigns thrive on tough arguments about the issue, but personal attacks have no place in it.”
Piechotta is a doctor, lives in Leipzig and has been a member of the Bundestag for the Greens since 2021. She is also a city council member. In her video, the MP explained that the SPD did not elect Scholz to the party leadership years ago, but then made him its candidate for chancellor “due to a lack of alternatives”. But right now all of Germany is seeing “the real Olaf Scholz, and he’s simply not a great statesman, I’m sorry.”
At X, Piechotta’s clip sparked outrage, particularly among users close to the SPD. “You remember that,” writes Mattheus Berg, for example. The SPD member of the Bundestag Martin Rosemann from Thuringia writes: “An incredible derailment. At least an apology is required here!” Parliamentary group vice-president Detlef Müller wrote: “You simply don’t call the Chancellor a ‘Arxxxloch’. Basics of education and decency.”
In the evening, Piechotta apologized on X. The controversial video was re-uploaded and the Scholz passage was removed. “After great protest from individual SPD members… we removed the passages critical of Scholz,” can now be read at the beginning.
Shortly before Christmas, all parties represented in the Bundestag except the AfD and BSW agreed on a so-called fairness agreement for the election campaign. “We debate with respect for each other and refrain from personal denigration or attacks on the personal or professional environment of politicians,” it says.