Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) recently recommended using washcloths instead of showers to save energy – now the 80-year-old CDU politician Wolfgang Schäuble also has a tip ready. Regarding the scenario that many Germans will have to freeze this winter, the senior president of the Bundestag said on Tuesday on Bild-TV: “Then you just put on a sweater. Or maybe a second sweater. You don’t have to whine about it, you have to recognize that a lot of things can’t be taken for granted.”
The electricity can also go out. “That’s why you should always have a few candles, matches and a flashlight at home.”
According to Schäuble, the Germans are a spoiled society. “I also. But we must now resist the danger that things will continue like this forever. The Germans will have to try harder again!”
Advice like this gets on the nerves of other politicians – Dietmar Bartsch, the leader of the Left Group, is one of them. “We have record inflation and the worst social crisis in the post-war period. Politicians in particular are not allowed to offer casual energy-saving tips with sweaters and candles,” Bartsch told the editorial network Germany (RND). For people who don’t know how to pay high energy bills, Schäuble’s statements are “blatant mockery”.
A few weeks ago, SPD general secretary Kevin Kühnert voiced another objection specifically to shower tips from colleagues. He told the news portal “t-online”: “The information from various politicians on this subject triggered images in my head that I didn’t want to have at all.”
