In the upcoming issue of “Phoenix Personal”, which will be shown on the night of Friday to Saturday at midnight, Jörg Thadeusz speaks in detail with Oliver Welke about, among other things, his view of politics and the “heute-show”. Welke is thoughtful about the current situation.
“This may not come across enough in the broadcast, but I have the greatest respect for every single parliamentarian,” said Welke. “Even in front of ministries, in front of state secretaries and especially the Federal Chancellor. It’s simply an absurd, murderous workload. That’s why I’m so sorry that in the general clamor of ‘those up there’, the fact that they’re the last ones you’ll be faced with is completely lost accuse them of enriching themselves and doing nothing for it.”
Welke emphasizes that in general they would “spend it out in all directions”, and recently the traffic lights have been hit particularly often – just as the ruling parties would usually be hit in any satirical program. Welke: “All I can say is that Robert Habeck didn’t speak to us for many months. So when our reporters were outside, he kept walking. Similar to what some Union politicians did, especially Friedrich Merz, “We have now elevated ourselves to the status of running away from us, and he did that too.”
The government was therefore more often an issue than the AfD as an opposition party – but he sees a special role here: “Of course, for reasons of parity, I can’t pretend that the AfD is a completely normal party. That’s not possible.” However, he is critical of how the AfD is dealt with: “Issues like the AfD, which are and will continue to be recurring, then at some point you have to admit that you yourself – and this isn’t just a reproach to politicians – are responsible for it too much of just saying, ‘Be careful, they’re very right-wing!'”
Welke points to the special situation that in Austria and Germany, two parties, the FPÖ and AfD, are gaining ground, which, contrary to the trend in Europe, no longer try to appear more moderate, but are successful by becoming more radical. “In German-speaking countries of all places. I don’t have an answer to that yet and I don’t know exactly why things are so different. So, in France or Italy the secret of success is exactly the opposite. What does that tell us about ourselves? And why is that?” asks Welke.
