A laughing Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) during a visit to the storm-ravaged Erftstadt in North Rhine-Westphalia causes outraged reactions on the Internet. “I’m really speechless,” wrote SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil on Saturday afternoon on Twitter and linked to a video that was circulating in the online networks.
Laschet laughs in the background with bystanders, apparently making jokes, while a visibly affected Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier promises solidarity and help to those affected in the disaster region.
[Wenn Sie alle aktuellen Nachrichten live auf Ihr Handy haben wollen, empfehlen wir Ihnen unsere App, die Sie hier für Apple- und Android-Geräte herunterladen können.]
SPD Deputy Chief Kevin Kühnert wrote on Twitter: “A question of character”.
Eva Högl, who was neither a country’s head of government nor a candidate for chancellor, had to apologize for a similar situation – after the terrorist attack in Barcelona in 2017, when she was the top candidate of the Berlin SPD for the Bundestag, she laughed in the background, while Martin Schulz in front condoled.
At the time, she alleged that she was not aware that Schulz was talking about the attack. In fact, the occasion had nothing to do with it: a monument unveiling in Kreuzberg. It was different with Laschet, in the middle of Erftstadt, one of the catastrophically hit places.
Steinmeier and Laschet had previously made a picture of the situation in the hard-hit town of Erftstadt. Both thanked the emergency services there. Laschet promised that the state of North Rhine-Westphalia would “do everything possible” to organize direct aid for those affected.
In Erftstadt the overflowing Erft had washed down numerous houses and caused them to collapse; Several houses and parts of a historic castle collapsed in landslides. The district of Blessem is particularly badly affected. (Tsp / AFP)
:format(jpeg):focal(595x311:605x301)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gfrmedia/ELAQ27KIMNGQZACRMCE7GXEWCI.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1)
