Hessian aid for CDU: Rhein attacks the Greens - Boris Rhein slams Cem Özdemir in fiery Baden-Württemberg election rally
Hesse's state premier Boris Rhein launched sharp jabs at Cem Özdemir during a fiery speech in Fellbach, holding back neither on biting remarks about campaign posters, agricultural diesel subsidies—nor even hemp plants.
As Baden-Württemberg's state election enters its final stretch, the Christian Democrats in the southwest are getting high-profile backup from Hesse: At the traditional political Ash Wednesday event hosted by the southwestern CDU in Fellbach (Rems-Murr district), Minister-President Boris Rhein (CDU) delivered a scathing attack on the Greens and their lead candidate, Cem Özdemir. "People are fed up with green paternalism, green bans, and above all, that green know-it-all attitude," Rhein declared. The March 8 election, he argued, was a defining choice between directions—with the CDU standing for freedom over prohibition.
Rhein mocked the fact that Özdemir's campaign posters barely mention his party affiliation. "Frankly, I can't blame him," he quipped. "Who among us would want to put 'the Greens' on their poster?" He also ridiculed Özdemir's election slogan, "Sie kennen ihn" ("You know him"), retorting, "Oh yes, the farmers know him all right"—a dig at Özdemir's tenure as federal agriculture minister and the bitter dispute over agricultural diesel subsidies.
Back then, Rhein claimed, farmers had been relegated to the "kids' table" with Özdemir, not the cabinet's decision-making table. "That's no way to treat our farmers," he said. "But what can you expect from someone whose only experience with planting was a single hemp seedling?"
This year's political Ash Wednesday gathering—the traditional kickoff to the campaign's homestretch—has put the Greens and CDU squarely in the spotlight, as their top candidates are the only ones with a realistic shot at becoming Baden-Württemberg's next minister-president. Current polls give the CDU a narrow lead ahead of the March 8 vote, though the Greens have been gaining ground in recent weeks.
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