Germany's Habeck says democrats must show ability to solve problems

DPA
·1 min read
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Cem Oezdemir (L), German Minister for Food and Agriculture, and Robert Habeck, German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, walk side by side before the start of the memorial service to mark the act of mourning for former President of the German Bundestag Wolfgang Schaeuble in Berlin Cathedral. Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
Cem Oezdemir (L), German Minister for Food and Agriculture, and Robert Habeck, German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, walk side by side before the start of the memorial service to mark the act of mourning for former President of the German Bundestag Wolfgang Schaeuble in Berlin Cathedral. Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
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German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck said that democratic parties need to show the ability to solve problems and pragmatically compromise in order to blunt the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

"As a democratic majority, we must prove that we are capable of solving problems with a free, open democracy," Habeck said on Tuesday at an event hosted by financial newspaper Handelsblatt.

Habeck, a Green, also took a swipe at AfD co-chair Alice Weidel without directly naming her.

Weidel said in a recent interview with the Financial Times that the AfD would support a referendum to quit the European Union - a so-called "Dexit" - if the party fails to force drastic reforms to the EU.

Weidel told the newspaper that the United Kingdom's exit from the EU following the 2016 Brexit vote should be a model for Germany.

Habeck on Tuesday said that politics could not be much "more stupid" than saying that Germany should leave the EU and the European single market.