How can Islamist attacks like the knife attack in Solingen be prevented in the future? The guests at “Hart aber fair” agree that it is important to better equip the police. However, blanket deportations or entry bans cannot be the solution, stresses Göring-Eckardt.
After the Islamist knife attack by a 26-year-old Syrian last Friday at a city festival in Solingen, the political process of coming to terms with the incident has begun. Three people were killed in the attack and eight others were injured, some seriously. Around three days after the attack, guests on the ARD talk show “Hart aber fair” are also addressing the question of how the attack and its background will affect the upcoming state elections in Thuringia and Saxony.
Various interviews shown in the program give an impression of the mood in the eastern German states. According to them, uncertainty and the feeling of being left behind are widespread. Many criticize, for example, that wages are still lower than in the west. “If politics is asleep, then that’s an absolute no-go for me,” one viewer sums up her displeasure.
“I can understand that people feel even more insecure,” says Deputy President of the Bundestag Katrin Göring-Eckardt, referring to the attack in Solingen. And she adds self-critically: “We are not doing a good job. We are not doing a good job with Islamism, we are not fighting it enough.”
“What kind of country do we want to be?”
Social networks need to be better controlled and the police better equipped. The federal budget is currently short of 500 million euros for this. At the same time, the Green politician points out that the attacker in Solingen was a lone perpetrator. “We should talk about the Islamist murderer who came from Syria. But we shouldn’t talk about the Syrians. That would be shooting ourselves in the foot.” And Göhring-Eckardt asks: “What kind of country do we want to be? Do we want to keep attacking each other, or do we want to do things much, much better than we are now?”
“The question is justified,” agrees CDU politician Wolfgang Bosbach, who is currently on an election campaign tour in eastern Germany. “We want humanity on the one hand and order on the other. But if more and more people have the feeling that the first is working, but the second is not working at all, then the mood will change.”
SPD interior politician Sebastian Fiedler is more specific. There are fundamental problems with the deportation of refugees, he says. That is why he is primarily calling for more staff. “I’m fed up with all this complaining,” says Fiedler. “I have to say: we need efficient intelligence services as well as efficient police units and immigration authorities in Germany. Otherwise, we can talk for a long time, but it won’t work.”
Göring-Eckardt against deportations to Afghanistan
Fiedler and Göring-Eckardt reject CDU leader Friedrich Merz’s call for a travel ban for Afghans and Syrians. “I can’t see any merit in that because it’s a blanket statement,” says the Green Party politician. Yazidi women in Syria and northern Iraq, for example, are the biggest victims of the Islamic State. “Should we say: If they come from Syria, then they can’t come here? No, that would be crazy,” she says. The politician, on the other hand, demands: “We have to make sure that those who become radicalized – they are criminals, by the way – are deported. Of course. What else?”
However, deporting criminals to Afghanistan is difficult. “It may well be that they won’t go to prison there, but will be celebrated and then back with us relatively quickly. I think that’s dangerous for us, and we shouldn’t risk it.” Göring-Eckardt demands: “That’s why it’s better for them to be in prison here. Because they’ll be safe there and won’t do anything bad.”
Wolfgang Bosbach finally sums it up: “At the moment the question is not what the Greens, the FDP or the SPD want, at the moment the question is what makes our country safer. What is compatible with our legal system, what really helps and what doesn’t? I miss this debate.” The traffic light government must reach an agreement on this, demands Bosbach. “But if the traffic light coalition is shown for months what it is arguing about, then people will lose faith in the art of government. Basically they just want to be well governed. And that is not too much to ask.”
Green politician emphasizes firewall to AfD
Finally, the guests debate the possible participation of the AfD in the government. Göring-Eckardt’s opinion is clear in this context: “What is not acceptable is a party that wants to destabilize our country, that wants to abolish our system. Saying that we will include them in our general democratic consensus is dangerous. We should not do that, because that would abolish our democracy.” The Green politician promises: “We will continue to stand up for democracy, for this firewall, and to ensure that the AfD does not achieve a third of the votes and a blockade in parliament.”
Bosbach also hopes that the AfD will ultimately perform worse than predicted. “I am not giving up hope that there are still many people in the voting booth who can win back the established parties for the democratic center.”
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