Schwerin (dpa / mv) - CDU leader Friedrich Merz has also caused outrage in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister with his statement about Ukrainian refugees. "Friedrich Merz's statement on social tourism is a slap in the face for many war refugees from Ukraine and the people committed to refugee aid. He sprays poison into our troubled society instead of contributing to cohesion," Schwesig wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
Merz told Bild TV on Monday evening: "We are now experiencing social tourism from these refugees: to Germany, back to Ukraine, to Germany, back to Ukraine." On Tuesday he apologized for his choice of words. "I regret the use of the word 'social tourism'. It was an inaccurate description of an isolated problem," he wrote on Twitter. His reference was to a lack of registration of the refugees.
Schwesig said she had spoken to many Ukrainian refugees in recent months. One of the many affected families live in their neighborhood. "Their fate is very close to me. They want peace and a return to their homeland. This is war and not social tourism," Schwesig continued.
The parliamentary director of the SPD parliamentary group, Katja Mast, accused Merz of deliberately starting a political culture war and of wanting to shift the discourse to the right with ever new border shifts. "So far we only know that from the AfD," said Mast of the German Press Agency. The fact that Merz then "half-heartedly" distanced himself from his statements was "no more than the usual scam".
