Visit to the flood area: Armin Laschet is violently attacked by those affected – “huge failure”

Updated: 08/02/202122:05

• OfJosef Forster

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Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet visits the areas that have been particularly hard hit by the flood disaster in June. The residents react irritably.

Swisttal / Munich – “Have you ever dug in the mud for a week”? Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet came under heavy fire during his visit to the flood area Swisttal (North Rhine-Westphalia). The residents vent their anger. So far, he has not seen any help from the state government or the local administration, one man complained. Instead, young people would have helped clean up. Another man also complained about “huge failures” and threatened – also in Laschet’s direction: “You will notice when you vote.” On September 26th there is a general election.

Armin Laschet in flood area: residents raise serious allegations

But the Union chancellor candidate appeared more sovereign during his visit than on July 17th. While Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier addressed the victims of the floods, Laschet smirked in the background. Laschet was able to prevent another such faux pas during his visit on Monday.

A reporter from ntv on site reports that Laschet has taken a lot of time for the citizens. He had heard from some residents that they wanted to give him their opinion. Because the people, some of whom have lost everything, depend on money. TV pictures show Laschet walking through the streets in a group of residents and media, talking to different people and also looking in through open windows to understand the extent of the devastation. For Laschet it is a great challenge: crisis management and election campaigns. Pictures from Monday mainly show a very serious Union Chancellor candidate and NRW Prime Minister.

Flood disaster in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate: residents are calling for immediate help

In mid-July, heavy rainfall in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate left a trail of devastation through the affected communities. In North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, 182 people died as a result of the violent storms and floods, and the flood tore away thousands of belongings.

Armin Laschet (CDU) forms his own picture of the destruction in the flood area

© Oliver Berg / dpa

During a visit to the flood disaster region, Armin Laschet emphasized the need for rapid aid. “We need immediate immediate aid,” said the Union candidate for chancellor on Monday in the Heimzerheim district of the Swisttal community in the Rhein-Sieg district. He asked how the payouts went on site – either by bank transfer or, if there was no other way, with cash. “Then comes the big task: the reconstruction. The federal and state governments will work together. And we are working at full speed so that there will soon be decisions at the federal level. ”

Those affected in the flood areas do not hold back with their opinion on Laschet’s promise. Patrick Richelt, director of a kindergarten in Swisttal-Heimerzheim, complained: “We no longer have any infrastructure in the village. All the small shops, all the family businesses in the village – it all sank. We no longer have a school. ”Laschet now has to announce concrete help. “He must. We have to get into the pots. Not the usual tens of months’ approval process. We need quick solutions, ”emphasized Richelt. The Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet gave those affected hope for quick help in a subsequent press conference – and made the federal government responsible.

Armin Laschet increases pressure on prime minister colleagues

The Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet (CDU) increased the pressure on his prime minister colleagues during a visit to the flood areas on August 2. In Schleiden (North Rhine-Westphalia), Laschet made the federal government responsible for building up the destroyed communities.

The floods in mid-July were a “catastrophe of national importance”. The federal and state governments have to work together on reconstruction, said Laschet. For this he presented an ambitious schedule. At the next Prime Minister’s Conference on August 10th, his counterparts should come to an agreement on the federal law before it would be voted on in the Bundestag on September 7th, Laschet calculated. A special meeting of the Federal Council could conclude the legislative process within five weeks. This “quick sequence” is necessary so that the money “reaches the people without bureaucracy”.

Floods in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate: Special session of the state parliament planned

Because of the flood disaster, Armin Laschet wants to convene the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia for a special session, reported the dpa. “In view of the extent of the destruction and suffering that the storm disaster of July brought to our country, I suggest a joint memorial act by the state government and the state parliament,” said Laschet, justifying his approach. August 9th is ideal for a memorial service. Representatives of the numerous aid organizations are to be invited to the joint commemoration. (jjf with material from dpa)

source https://pledgetimes.com/visit-to-the-flood-area-armin-laschet-is-violently-attacked-by-those-affected-huge-failure/