Latest news with #HendrikWüst
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Relatives to commemorate victims of Germanwings crash 10 years ago
Families and friends of the 150 people who died in the crash of a Germanwings aircraft in the French Alps exactly a decade ago are set to commemorate the victims on Monday. The plane was en route from Barcelona to the western German city of Dusseldorf on April 24, 2015, when the co-pilot, who suffered from a mental illness, deliberately crashed the plane to take his own life, investigators believe. Among the people on board was a group of school students from the town of Haltern am See, located in the western Ruhr region, Germany's former industrial heartland. Students and teachers at the secondary school are due to lay down white roses to commemorate the 16 students and two teachers killed in the crash. Church bells are to ring out in Haltern at 10:41 am (09:41 am) to mark the exact time of the crash 10 years ago. "Our country is united in remembering those who lost their lives 10 years ago. We will honour their memory," Hendrik Wüst, premier of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia where Halter is located, posted on X. Many relatives have also travelled to the site of the tragedy in France to attend a memorial to commemorate the victims.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
German conservatives want 'democratic' alliance after historic vote
Leading members of Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU) on Thursday demanded a broad alliance against the Alternative for Germany (AfD), one day after a historic motion on migration policy passed in parliament with the backing of the far-right party. Hendrik Wüst, the premier of the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, denounced the AfD in a speech in Dusseldorf and said that "the major problems of our time must be solved from the democratic centre." The AfD "is misanthropic, it is racist in parts, it is anti-European," said Wüst, who leads Germany's most populous state. On Wednesday, the CDU relied on support from the AfD to narrowly pass its non-binding five-point plan for a tougher migration policy through the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament. The move was extremely controversial, marking the first time the AfD have been relied upon to form a majority for legislation. Another vote on a CDU-backed package of migration policies is expected in parliament on Friday with concrete measures aimed at cracking down on asylum-seekers entering the country. The AfD and two minor parties have signalled they will support the bill. Wüst did not address the votes directly, but said that Germans are worried about crime and migration and "it must not happen that only the right-wing fringe provides the quick answers." The CDU premier of the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, Daniel Günther, appealed explicitly to other established parties to back Friday's bill. "There is a broad majority in the population in favor of having clear rules when it comes to internal security and the enforcement of law and order," said Günther. "And it must be democrats who come to a common solution here." He called Wednesday's vote "bitter" and said that mainstream democratic politicians now have "a real historical responsibility to face."
