Dennis Radtke, the head of the CDU’s Arbeitnehmerflügel (workers’ wing), has spoken out against the fundamental criticism that parts of the Union are directing toward the Greens. “I do not support any kind of green‑bashing” Radtke told the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”. “There are good reasons why I am in the CDU and not in the Greens. But I do not assume that the Greens want to deliberately damage Germany. That is the AfD’s aim”.
During the Bundestag election campaign, Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) positioned himself decisively against the Greens and ruled out any cooperation. Radtke, a member of the conservative faction in the European Parliament, said that having different stances on specific policy questions is entirely normal. “In the end it is about whether there is a common basis and a shared vision of where we want to go. And that does exist”.
In his parliamentary work, Radtke draws an explicit line against the far right. “Dennis Radtke does absolutely nothing in coordination with the far right. Instead, he tends to give the communists a little something extra before he pushes anything through with the right”.
