Strange aftertaste: Markus Lanz (ZDF) turns important topics into background noise

The talk with Markus Lanz (ZDF) is about the case of the arrested regime critic Roman Protassewitsch as well as the personnel and content of the SPD.

Hamburg – Between human rights violations in Belarus, the investigations into Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Olaf Scholz’s candidacy for chancellor, China’s foreign policy and Gerhard Schröder’s connection with Russia, Markus Lanz’s guests fanned out a political panorama on May 25 and repeatedly outlined them current situation of the SPD with regard to the upcoming election campaign.

The guests on ZDF were the journalist Corinna Milborn, the ex-Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, the Spiegel editor Markus Feldenkirchen and, via a link from Vilnius, the Eastern Europe expert Jakob Wöllenstein. Lanz jumped on the SPD train as soon as his guests were introduced and pointed out the topics of the program to Sigmar Gabriel with the words: “Others have problems too.”

Markus Lanz on ZDF: Moderator lures Gabriel to comment on Schröder

Lanz left no doubt about the focus on the election campaign and gave the other topics of the program the strange aftertaste of a background noise. Via Gabriel and SPD expert Markus Feldenkirchen, Lanz repeatedly combined the evening’s numerous points of discussion with questions and theses about the party, its past and present. Targeted questions about the hijacking of aircraft in Belarus initially set the tone in a dialogue with Jakob Wöllenstein, until the involvement of former SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schröder with Russia’s energy industry came up and the conversation stalled.

Lanz insisted for several minutes and tried to urge Sigmar Gabriel to take a position on Schröder and his disservice to the party. Feldenkirchen also agreed when the SPD first moved into the center of the discussion. Why is Gerhard Schröder not currently involved in questions about the Russian reactions to the situation in Belarus? What does Schröder’s relationship with Putin have to do with how the party is perceived today? Lanz insisted for minutes, although Gabriel blocked and resolutely refused theses on Gerhard Schröder’s decisions.

Talk by Markus Lanz on ZDF: Sigmar Gabriel speaks of inappropriate belittling

The former foreign minister distanced himself from the repeated suggestions by Markus Lanz that today’s SPD would not sufficiently condemn the actions of the ex-chancellor. In order to finally avert the discussion, Gabriel spoke of an inappropriate belittlement: Seeing Gerhard Schröder as a link to Russia and his involvement with the Russian government company Gazprom on the question of Lukashenka’s human rights violations could not be a strategy for a discussion of foreign policy action .

As a shining example, he cited Joe Biden, who currently clearly recognizes the foreign policy need for communication with Putin’s government – communication that could gradually relax the political equilibrium of the world and the political situation within Russia and enable dialogues again. In contrast, for example, to sanctions between countries, which Gabriel usually condemns.

ZDF talk with Markus Lanz: Journalist Corinna Milborn does not remain steadfast

In any case, the opposition Protassewitsch imprisoned in Belarus, who formulated a confession for a video and after obvious abuse, was not helped much by the Schröder analysis in the program – several of the guests suggested this. Nevertheless, Corinna Milborn apparently let Gabriel’s arguments dissuade her from her original demand for tougher actions by the EU against Russia. Initially, she had called for a tougher course in EU foreign policy and the countries in order to put pressure on Putin, who is currently reluctantly but persistently supporting Belarus and the pro-Russian Lukashenko.

In a conversation about the EU’s foreign policy positioning, she emphasized how little the EU currently represents a consistent moral position in international political events and how little the union of states takes its own position of power for political negotiations seriously. On the German side, Feldenkirchen underlined the SPD as being downright conflict-averse in international talks and expects only genteel compliments from SPD Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz for Putin in the future.

Anyone who is familiar with politics could not expect any surprises from Scholz, was Feldenkirchen’s credo for the discussion – although he sees him as a politician of stature and only found positive words for his stubbornness. What is so weakening the SPD as a party among the electorate today preoccupied the group at the latest when Austria was discussed in the talk on ZDF. The around 20,000 SMS that Sebastian Kurz exchanged with his confidante and ÖBAK boss Thomas Schmidt and which now form the basis for the investigation of possible false statements by the Chancellor, represent an example of an incident that undermines trust in political decision-making processes, speculated Lanz, Milborn and Gabriel.

Talk by Markus Lanz at ZDF: Sigmar Gabriel is still shocked by the survey

In a conversation about political trust, Gabriel addressed a survey from his term in office, which he still remembers and after which the majority of the SPD voters felt despised by the party leadership. He believes that the results of a survey have never shocked him more, and named an increasing degree of academization as a factor causing alienation between the party leadership and the electorate.

The SPD has changed, he said with a wistful look and spoke on the side of the MPs, among other things, of a dwindling perception of the integrity of their own profession. In the past, politicians have even resigned prematurely as soon as there were doubts about their credibility, described Gabriel – Sebastian Kurz appeared completely contrary to Gabriel’s descriptions in a well-rehearsed ORF interview when he was referring to his “clear conscience” on the decision not to even consider resigning speaks.

Talk with Markus Lanz on ZDF: Austria is a country of political corruption

Finally, Lanz described Austria repeatedly and with a smile as a country of political corruption, setting clichés and surprisingly met with Milborn, who seems to have a sarcastic relationship to the political milieu of her country, about which she regularly reports on the talk show “Pro & Contra”. If Markus Lanz were to make a guest appearance there, for what could he appear as an expert? (Dennis Vetter)

There is an overview of the topics of Markus Lanz’s talk shows on ZDF. The coronavirus in particular determines the broadcasts. The last talk show with Markus Lanz on ZDF was about the election program that does not appear at all.