BERLIN. Vice-President of the Bundestag Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) has defended her heavily criticized statements on the 2015 migration crisis. “As soon as migration or Islamism is mentioned, one thing happens again and again: two sentences from 2015 are taken out of context for hate speech against me and – worse – for general criticism of refugees,” wrote the former leader of the Green Party on the SMS service X on Friday.
Whenever migration or Islamism is mentioned, one thing happens again and again: two sentences from 2015 are taken out of context and used for hate speech against me and – worse – for general criticism of refugees. And unfortunately not only from the extreme right. A 🧵
— Katrin Göring-Eckardt (@GoeringEckardt) June 7, 2024
She would like honest debates again, where people talk to each other more and don’t just throw headlines around. The Thuringia-born woman specifically referred to two statements she made in the fall of 2015.
“Whether we like it or not: the future is coming”
In connection with the migration crisis that was simmering at the time, the 58-year-old said at the federal party conference of the Greens: “Our country will change, and drastically. And I’ll tell you one thing: I’m looking forward to it!” Göring-Eckardt complained that this quote is now being used with malicious intent.
“Whether we like it or not, the future is coming. That’s why I say today: our country is changing. Am I happy? Yes, tackling change together and making our country stronger is what I look forward to,” she emphasized.
Göring-Eckardt relies on her faith
The evangelical Christian and former top official of the Evangelical Church Germany (EKD) also referred to a statement she made during the EKD synod in Bremen in 2015. There she said, referring to the high immigration figures: “Now we are suddenly receiving people as gifts.”
However, it is even more notorious to widely suspect migrants as possible criminals.
Deportations? “Of course, according to the rule of law”
Humanity and order are not mutually exclusive, but rather inclusive. “This of course also includes deportations if people no longer have the right to stay. Of course, according to the rule of law,” she added.
Göring-Eckardt’s statements were met with much misunderstanding and criticism at the time. Their statements were sometimes interpreted as praise for the disorderly mass immigration. (vw)