German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has come under fire from several media outlets following a citizens’ dialogue in Salzwedel, Saxony-Anhalt, where he was accused of lecturing a terminally ill woman.
There, a woman had spoken out and told the chancellor that she had terminal stage IV skin cancer, saying that the looming public health cuts amount to austerity measures that would deny citizens essential funding.
“I sent you an invitation to my funeral“ she told Merz. She said she has massive financial difficulties in even being able to afford her burial.
She then went on to say she had no understanding that the federal government wants to make major cuts to the healthcare system, but at the same time tried to increase their own salaries.
“Why are we cutting costs, but not in politics?” she asked the chancellor.
Merz reacted harsly to the senior citizen, saying: “At no time, at no time has anyone considered raising the salaries of members of the federal government. At no time. Not from me either. Anything else is a false claim.“ He then addressed the dying woman, saying: “And I would simply be grateful if you would not simply repeat this without checking.”
In fact, the elderly dying woman’s claims were accurate, as media outlets across Germany are reporting. Approximately two weeks ago, Bild newspaper reported on a draft law federal law to boost the salaries of state secretaries by almost €40,000, however, the chancellor’s salary would have been linked to this increase. In fact, if the draft law went through, Merz’s own salary would have increased by approximately €65,000 per year.
The law was only stopped after the plan sparked massive public outrage, especially on the back of looming public health cuts. Bild called it “shameless self-serving actions from the goverment.”
It should be noted that Germany is planning on cutting essential health services to its seniors, even as public spending on migrants is soaring. Germany spends approximately €50 billion in costs per year on foreigners, including social benefits, education, and housing, however, experts say many billions more are spent that are not directly included, such as on housing Germany’s massive foreign population in the prison.
In addition, Germany continues to funnel tens of billions to Ukraine, with another €19 billion directly from Germany planned. While some of this money is loans, many experts believe that Ukraine will never be able to pay this money back.
