“Showcase politics”: dealing with Orban heats up feelings at Markus Lanz

“Showcase politics”: Not only journalist Robin Alexander attacks Saarland’s Prime Minister Tobias Hans at Markus Lanz on ZDF.

Frankfurt – Anyone who has been on Markus Lanz’s show is always happy to be invited by the smart South Tyrolean or his editorial team. It doesn’t matter whether you have something meaningful to contribute or not. Have a subscriber to the ZDF talk show at regular irregular intervals: The 43-year-old Prime Minister of Saarland Tobias Hans (CDU), who has a journalistic superiority in the form of SZ editor Dr. Christina Berndt, world editor-in-chief Robin Alexander and sports podcaster Lucas Vogelsang saw it delivered. In addition, there were sometimes smug tips from presenter Markus Lanz, so that on Tuesday evening (June 22nd, 2021) it was not boring for a second in the sometimes tiring show.

Football almost always heats the mind. So also the EM 2021, which due to the corona pandemic will only be held a year later, i.e. these days. Markus Lanz on ZDF is also hot. However, at the beginning there is no lively discussion about the games themselves with tricks, tactics and goals, but about a political issue: UEFA’s aversion to rainbow colors. As such, the stadium was supposed to shine in these composite colors at the Germany-Hungary encounter at the Allianz Arena in Munich on Wednesday, but the otherwise tolerant European Football Association as host declined this as a display of a political statement. A slap in the face of the LGBTQ movement and for everyone who shows solidarity with it for a cosmopolitan society.

Markus Lanz (ZDF): Discussion about rainbow colors at EM 2021

UEFA, which is known to be active against racism, but otherwise has almost as much mess on the line as the superordinate FIFA, fears Germany’s sporting opponents will upset Hungary, or to put it more precisely: its Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is also chairman of the right-wing populist party Fidesz is. Thanks to the initiative of him and his arch-conservative “Hungarian Citizens Association”, information and education about homosexuality are supposed to be banned by a new law.

Even Markus Söder, Prime Minister of the Free State of Bavaria, pleaded in advance for the Allianz Arena to be illuminated in rainbow colors. And Tobias Hans also thinks that Markus Lanz is “a shame” that it shouldn’t come to that. Everyone agrees on this evening, albeit with a differentiated point of view. According to Lucas Vogelsang, the battle for the best of luck has become more political “because politics has brought ideas into football that are good”. But he is right to say: “You would have done yourself a great favor if you had given the rainbow on all three match days.” Robin Alexander indirectly agrees with him, who is somewhat unfortunate about the action, which for Viktor Orbán is not a blow to the office, but rather a step forward.

Markus Lanz (ZDF) expresses his dislike for Viktor Orbán

Christina Berndt, who doesn’t seem to have much to do with football, vehemently criticizes the “drastic discrimination steps” in Hungarian politics. Likewise Tobias Hans, who speaks of “blatant social injustice in the year 2021”, and of course Markus Lanz, who once again treats himself to his own opinion as the host, and his aversion to Viktor Orbán, who raves about “a soft gay Europe” Expresses. There is also consensus at the discussion round that UEFA uses two standards: While the German national goalkeeper Manuel Neuer does not have to reckon with sanctions for wearing the rainbow-colored captain’s armband, the stadium in Munich should not be immersed in the same …

The guests in Markus Lanz’s ZDF talk:

At Markus Lanz (ZDF): Robin Alexander accuses Tobias Hans of “shop window politics”

After rarely so much agreement with Markus Lanz, Robin Alexander pissed off the following sentence by Tobias Hans: “I threw my Christmas cards that Viktor Orbán sent me in the trash.” Then Robin Alexander accuses him of “shop window politics” : In foreign policy one shouldn’t court such people, but neither should one make gestures that express contempt. Because this would only divide more. Ursula von der Leyen’s much-criticized election as President of the European Commission on July 16, 2019 in place of the previously favored CSU politician Manfred Weber, who ran as the top candidate of the EPP, was also due to Viktor Orbán’s approval.

Tobias Hans defends himself: “You are sharpening it inadmissibly! Mr. Alexander, you mix things up! ”Only by cultivating contacts and friendships in the European Union can improvements be achieved on contentious points. It makes a huge difference whether equality laws take a little longer or whether existing rights are restricted. But he also shows a clear edge: “You cannot be a member of the European Union and expect nothing like this to be commented on.”

Markus Lanz (ZDF): Slash against politics in general

And then the author Lucas Vogelsang (“Heimaterde”), who lives in Berlin-Wedding, and who thinks that the people in Wedding are “more real” than anywhere else, asks the all-important question: “Why do you only wake up when we are in the middle are in? ”Not just a blow to Tobias Hans, but politics in general, which is only now, in the middle of the UEFA EURO and shortly before the game between Germany and Hungary, taking up the topic of solidarity with the LGBTQ community. The law against homosexual rights was “not accidentally” passed in the middle of this tournament. For him, UEFA’s decision against rainbow lighting is a “kneel to Orbán”.

After 40 minutes of exchanging blows, you stay with football. There is an indirect free kick, so to speak: The biochemist and science journalist Christina Berndt sees dangers on the horizon and in the sometimes well-filled stadiums due to the significantly more contagious delta variant of the coronavirus. The unchecked tinkling of fans through Europe could quickly make the incidence skyrocket, while people would already be talking about changing classes in schools in this country in the autumn. Much to the chagrin of the children and their parents.

Corona variant Delta: Markus Lanz is also angry

Not only does she moan. The father of three, Markus Lanz, is also angry about it. While the incidence is under ten almost everywhere in our country, in London it is already back to 100, he knows. Both forget that the tour through Europe with its different regulations (tests here, no mask there, etc.) is made more difficult than seldom before for football fans. But of course, superspreading cannot be ruled out, as the delta variant has a higher throat load and only the second vaccination would offer sufficient protection. At Lucas Vogelsang, memories of the tragic “game zero” are awakened when the first leg of the Champions League Atalanta Bergamo round of 16 against FC Valencia (4: 1), which was due to the renovation of the Gewiss stadium in Bergamo, took place on February 19, 2020 San Siro Stadium in Milan, with its 44,236 cheering spectators, has become a hotspot for the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.

The New National Stadium (Ferenc Puskas Stadium) in Budapest was the only one at the EURO to be filled to the last seat with a good 57,000 spectators who did not wear masks and could not keep their distance. However, all visitors must be tested and the incidence in the city is less than ten compared to London, where it is ten times as high. Lucas Vogelsang points out the hypocrisy of the reporting: If the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen is well filled with 25,000 spectators, Christian Eriksen’s collapse without outside influence including resuscitating medical measures during the first group game Denmark against Finland (0: 1) speaks of a ” European champion of hearts ”, but in Budapest of“ Pest and Cholera ”. The final of the EURO in Hungary – without Viktor Orbán’s discriminatory policies – would actually be better off than in London …

Markus Lanz (ZDF): Robin Alexander takes apart the CDU’s election program

At the end of an entertaining broadcast, Robin Alexander took apart the CDU’s election program and launched another attack against Tobias Hans, who even the neutral observer could feel a little bit sorry for: he had spoken out so clearly in favor of the rainbow stadiums, but he did find no word about the adoption right for homosexuals in the election manifesto of the CDU. Tobias Hans counters: “I am in a suitable place for a right to adopt homosexuals”. He then defends the CDU as a “people’s party for a large majority of society who want a party that deals with essential issues”. With the best will in the world, one could not include all of them in a party platform.

As a father of two daughters (and a son), he himself would also gender when he attended medical school, where 90 percent of the students were female. However, this does not necessarily have to be included in his party’s election manifesto. Animal welfare was outlined in it, for example. That makes animal rights activist Markus Lanz angry: “How serious are you about animal welfare? You have made a program that does as little pain as possible to as many people as possible! “Tobias Hans is back on the defensive: You have to be” considerate “of” partners in landscape policy such as farmers “(very gender-compliant, Mr. Hans!). Unfortunately, it remains vague here. But the airtime is up anyway … If it was a duel between Lanz and Hans at the end, one can draw the conclusion over long distances: four against one and, in the matter, all together! (Mac Hairapetian)