Latest news with #MarioVoigt
South China Morning Post
06-04-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Former German president warns of far-right at 80th anniversary of Buchenwald liberation
Germany marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazis' Buchenwald concentration camp on Sunday as one of the country's former presidents warned against 'radicalisation and a worldwide shift to the right'. Advertisement The governor of the state of Thuringia, Mario Voigt, and former German President Christian Wulff spoke at a ceremony in the city of Weimar, near Buchenwald, attended by scores of people, including several Holocaust survivors from across Europe. Voigt, whose state includes Buchenwald, called it 'a place of systematic dehumanisation' and said that everything that happened at the death camp 'was designed to break the human spirit and its dignity.' The Buchenwald concentration camp was established in 1937. More than 56,000 of the 280,000 inmates held at Buchenwald and its satellite camps were killed by the Nazis or died as a result of hunger, illness or medical experiments before the camp's liberation on April 11, 1945. Voigt also said the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel showed that 'the intention to exterminate Jews is not a thing of the past'. Advertisement He was referring to the attack by the Palestinian militant group that left some 1,200 people dead and 251 taken hostage, sparking the war between Israel and Hamas . The Israeli retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 50,695 Palestinians and wounded 115,338, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. In his speech, Wulff issued a stark warning about the current global political situation.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Eastern German leaders: Cutting bureaucracy key to economic revival
Eastern German leaders said on Thursday that stripping back bureaucracy was key to a prosperous future, as talks were held about how to help a region which lags the rest of reunified Germany in terms of wealth and opportunities. February's national parliamentary election revealed continuing divisions in Germany, 35 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) performing strongly in areas which formerly made up East Germany. At a conference of the premiers of the six eastern German states in Berlin, Thuringia Premier Mario Voigt said the federal government should learn from the experience of eastern Germany after reunification to guide the whole country's economic recovery. "A boost for Germany must start now, with low taxes, less bureaucracy," Voigt said. "Much of the experience we have gained in the east in the past 35 years, in transformation, in change, can play a major role." In addition to Thuringia, the states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are also involved, along with the current commissioner for eastern Germany, Carsten Schneider. His government job is to advocate for the region. The five eastern states, as well as eastern Berlin, were formerly part of East Germany, which fused with West Germany in 1990 and saw an at-times rocky transition from a communist planned economy to the Western-style free market. Business representatives were also invited to the meeting, including the president of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Eastern Thuringia, Ralf-Uwe Bauer. Bauer said eastern Germany has seen an "extremely positive economic development" since reunification, but problems remain, such as excessive bureaucracy and high energy costs. The meeting on Thursday came as Germany awaits the formation of a new government in Berlin, with the conservative CDU/CSU bloc - made up of Friedrich Merz's Christian Democrats and the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union - negotiating with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) over a coalition. Concerns have been raised that only two of the 19 representatives in the parties' central negotiating teams are from the former East Germany.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Eastern German leaders meet to discuss future of the region
The premiers of the five states in eastern Germany are meeting in Berlin on Thursday to discuss the future of the region, which still lags economically behind the former West Germany. February's parliamentary elections also showed a huge lurch to the far-right Alternative for Germany party among eastern Germans. A paper published last month which will serve as a basis for the talks calls for investment into research, less bureaucracy, lower energy costs and a "strong voice" for the former East Germany in the new federal government in Berlin. The conference of the eastern German premiers will be chaired by the premier of Thuringia, Mario Voigt. In addition to Thuringia, the states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are also involved, along with the current commissioner for eastern Germany, Carsten Schneider. Representatives from the business world have also been invited to the meeting at the Thuringian state representation in Berlin, including the president of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce of Eastern Thuringia in Gera, Ralf-Uwe Bauer. The five eastern states were formerly part of East Germany, which fused with West Germany in 1990 and saw an at-times rocky transition from a communist command economy to a Western market economy. Voigt said in advance that eastern Germany is already a key business location and a centre for innovation. "Our goal is to set the economic, infrastructural and social course in such a way that the east not only catches up but leads the way," Voigt explained.
