The blur of the "border of the unspeakable and unspeakable"

In ZDF's summer interview, Federal President Steinmeier leads the coalition and deplores the brutalization of language in politics. The asylum dispute had brought him a lot of citizenship.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier criticized the fierce asylum dispute in the Union and warned against a brutal language. "We have to go back to our senses," he said Sunday during the interview of the ZDF broadcast "Berlin direkt". Asked about the term "asylum tourism" used by Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), Steinmeier said that government parties were required to "pay attention to language". Söder refers to people who want to first ask for asylum in another EU country then in Germany.

Especially in digital media, the "limit of the unspeakable and the unspeakable" may fade. He does not believe in exaggerated political correctness. But you must argue responsibly. "It also requires some discipline in the language," said Steinmeier. He has recently received anxious calls from other heads of state and many indignant citizens have written to him. He would have reminded some and then would be asked: "How should we argue here with a sense of proportion, with reason for the good argument, if big politics does not perceive its character as a model," said Steinmeier in view of the conflict between CDU and CSU Steinmeier emphasized on ZDF, also terms like "Axis of the will" (put into play by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for closer cooperation between Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic). Germany), do not be an "appropriate language". The road to a common migration policy in Europe is finally rather tedious. "That's why I think we should not cultivate a language that can still divide."

A few days before the NATO summit in Brussels, Steinmeier called on European member states to take on more responsibilities. "Europe must be aware that not only the security situation in Europe has changed, but also the transatlantic relations and therefore the role of the United States within NATO," said Steinmeier. He referred to the debates on higher defense spending – especially from Germany, a higher contribution is needed. Some also fear that the United States, under the presidency of Donald Trump, may restrict their participation in NATO. "Because of these changes, Europe should be aware that it has much more to shoulder its own responsibility for European foreign and security policy," Steinmeier said. "This means, in my opinion, strengthening the defense capability." NATO countries agreed in 2014 that their defense spending should approach two per cent of GDP by 2024, with some of them, like the United States, long overdue. Germany is with 38.95 billion euros to 1.24 percent, the next year the budget is expected to reach 42.9 billion. Trump criticizes this too little.