Green Councilor Kurt Lauer defends himself against accusations of racism by his party. On the other hand, the spokesmen of the factions of the city council respect it. Also yours.
Kurt Lauer has worked for immigrants for decades, and in 2011 he presented a donation to the Sinus association for tutoring and student support to Ilker Ühnen, who at the time was chairman.
(© VRM)
At the start of the most recent city council meeting, Lauer strongly defended himself against accusations by the party executive that he had made racist comments. Lauer accused the party executive of defamation and character assassination. The cause of the scandal was a city council meeting in September, which dealt with the illegal dumping of rubbish in the old town of Worms. Lauer had said that because there are many immigrants in the old city, care should also be taken that they know the applicable rules.
Dr. Klaus Karlin, head of the CDU parliamentary group, shows “great respect for Lauer” that he defended himself against the accusations in such a straightforward manner. And before his work: “Kurt Lauer has proven to be the opposite of a racist.” He has been on the advisory board for migration and integration almost forever and is a welcome guest in all Worms mosques. For the CDU, it would be “completely impossible” for a conflict to be realized in this brutal and, above all, public way, says Karlin. Someone must be “gagged”, he suspects. This “ugly style” is a sin for all factions after all.
Encouragement from the group “Worms wants to continue”
Is Kurt Lauer a racist? The head of the SPD parliamentary group, Dirk Beyer, reacts with a spontaneous and short “No”. He also did not understand the sentence criticized by Lauer as a charge, but in terms of the idea of the service, multilingual information had to be provided. Beyer also claims for the SPD that there would be no such process in his party. But he does not want to get involved in the affairs of other parties: “The Greens need to know for themselves whether internal differences of opinion should be dealt with publicly.”
For the “Worms wants to continue” group, their spokesperson Mathias Englert reacted immediately on Facebook: “I have known Kurt Lauer for many years. And we’ve had some arguments. Kurt is definitely not a racist. Nor were his statements racist in any way. The courage and bravery to stand up against the board and parts of the split faction deserves respect!” Dr. Jürgen Neureuther, head of the FDP parliamentary group, also criticizes the style of conduct. He sees it as proof that the Young Greens are now at the top of the party as a whole.
What about Bündnis 90/Die Grünen itself? The head of their parliamentary group in the city council, Richard Grünewald, considers the public dispute to be “totally unnecessary”. Grünewald does not deny that his faction is divided. But it is important for him to continue working on the many tasks for which they have been elected to the city council. Above all, Grünewald says: “Kurt Lauer is someone who has campaigned for immigrants in Worms like few others.” What Christian Engleke and David Hilzendegen think of their bandmate Lauer, they made it clear in their own way. During his personal explanation, they stood up and headed for the exit of the hall.
In five short sentences, the board of Wormser Grünen reacts to the personal statement of the green city council member Kurt Lauer. They thank him for his commitment for decades, explain that they appreciate his commitment to their party and count on further dialogue with him. They stand by their basic criticisms but avoid the term racism. Instead, it now says: “However, the generalizations associated with the group are inconsistent with our green policy program and require correction.”