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Schleswig-Holstein's Minister of Education Karin Prien: "In the end, as a politician, you have to be able to detach yourself from your own destiny to a certain extent"
Photo: Wolfgang Kumm / picture alliance / dpa
In Schleswig-Holstein, a debate has flared up about alleged racism within the state government. The occasion is statements by Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU) about her cabinet colleague, Social Affairs Minister Aminata Touré (Greens).
Prien, who is also deputy federal chairman of the CDU, had already said on Tuesday at NDR Info in an article about a reassessment of safe countries of origin about Touré: "Of course, Aminata Touré is shaped by her own refugee story. But in the end, as a politician, you have to be able to detach yourself from your own fate to a certain extent and also stand next to yourself and also support decisions that hurt you personally."
SPD leader speaks of derailment
The statements triggered clear reactions. Schleswig-Holstein's SPD chairman Serpil Midyatli, for example, accused Prien on Wednesday of a derailment, for which she had to apologize immediately. In her political assessment of safe countries of origin, Prien reduced Minister Touré solely to her personal background as a child of refugees.
With her statement about her cabinet colleague, Prien provides the best proof of how everyday racism works. "This is absolutely unworthy of a member of a state government that is also expressly committed to a humanitarian migration policy." Touré was born in Schleswig-Holstein, emphasized the SPD land chief.
There was also fierce criticism of Prien from the coalition camp. "The statement that an integration minister should free herself from her own history of flight in the assessment of safe countries of origin is bottomless and testifies to internalized racism," said the state spokeswoman for the Green Youth, Johanna Schierloh.
Prien points to a lack of context – and conversation with Touré
Prien defended himself against the attacks: "In a long interview on migration policy, I was also asked about the biography of my cabinet colleague Aminata Touré. When asked about this, I awakened understanding for her personal perspective and also emphasized my own Jewish perspective.«
It was only by focusing the interview on this one sentence and the lack of context that the impression was created in the radio report that in no way reflected her attitude. In fact, several cuts can be heard between Prien's statements in the original NDR report.
"To accuse me of racism is completely absurd," Prien continued. "I am vehemently opposed to any form of racism, as Aminata Touré, with whom I spoke about it today, also knows. If my statement has created a false impression, I deeply regret it."
Julia Klöckner, a member of the CDU presidium, jumped in to help her party colleague. Prien has always stood up against racism. "The fact that the SPD is now reflexively shouting racism is doubly shabby: on the one hand, it relativizes the racists, on the other hand, this reflex is also a reason for the strengthening of the AfD," said Klöckner.
Prien and other CDU politicians are pushing for a cross-party commission in the asylum debate, which is to draw up a proposal within six months on how Germany should deal with migrants in the future. Among other things, the CDU wants to reduce asylum seeker benefits to the level of other EU countries in order to reduce a presumed financial pull effect to Germany.
However, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) had rejected such a commission, striving for a European solution. There is no isolated German way," Faeser said.
fek/dpa