After the controversial "Pascha" statement by Union faction leader Friedrich Merz, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner denied the CDU's claim to leadership for Germany.
"Anyone who talks in general terms about social tourism and "little Paschas" cannot justify any claim to leadership for modern Germany," said Lindner on Saturday at the state party conference of the NRW-FDP in Bielefeld.
"More differentiated judgments" are necessary for this.
"There are obviously integration deficits," says Lindner.
However, the FDP federal leader turned against blanket judgments.
Whether "a left-wing extremist or a "little pasha" threw the stone" - every form of disregard for the rule of law must be punished in the same way.
"Anyone who thinks our rule of law is weak must feel its full power, no matter where they come from."
In the context of the riots on New Year's Eve, Merz said on the talk show "Markus Lanz" about dealing with teachers: "And then they want to call these children to order, and the result is that the fathers appear in the schools and themselves forbid that.
Especially when it comes to teachers, that they correct their sons, the little pashas, from time to time.”
Lindner said Germany needs different immigration laws that make it easier for qualified people to move in.
But that is only part of the process of coming to terms with the "failures in migration policy" of the past years and decades.
On the other hand, there are "migration deficits and deficits in the enforcement of existing law" in Germany.