Size Does Matter in Germany
Conservatives strike back against Leftist proposals for
a vegetarian day once a week.
A group of Leftist Green German politicians is pushing for workplace cafeterias to institute an unpopular vegetarian day once a week where employees cannot eat popular Bavarian meats, such as schnitzel and wursts.
It’s not too different from Comrade First Lady Obama's goal of having liberal state approved "healthier" foods in U.S. school cafeterias.
The controversial proposal from the left-leaning Green Party — which could make even New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s soda ban look trivial — seems about as un-German as placing speed limits on the Autobahn reports the Washington Times.
Ahead of the national elections this fall, the proposal, which is unlikely to pass, is not sitting well with voters. And it’s created a bit of a headache for the Greens, the German magazine Spiegel reports.
The Greens‘ proposal has provided campaign fodder for their conservative opponents — Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling Christian Democratic Union, and their junior partner, the Free Democratic Party — who have used the issue to take the focus away from complaints about Ms. Merkel’s reluctance to come down harder on America for the NSA spying scandal.
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| But can he take all 12 inches? In this 2004 photo, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder enjoys a typical Thuringian style Rostbratwurst sausage during his visit in the eastern German village of Masserberg. |
The firestorm started Monday, when senior Green politician Renate Künast told a tabloid about her plan for a healthier Germany, followed by a vegetarian recipe that she posted on Twitter.
“A veggie day would be a great opportunity to see how we can nourish ourselves without meat and sausage,” she said.
She received support for the idea from Katrin Göring-Eckardt, a top Green Party member: “One doesn’t need two burgers every day,” she said.
The rival Free Democrats were having none of that. They organized an impromptu street barbecue in front of the Green Party’s headquarters in Berlin to protest the move, carrying signs that read: “Hands off my sausage.”
The suggestion of limiting Germans’ sausage intake — on average they eat more than 130 pounds of meat each year — has been met with much backlash from the Greens‘ political opponents.
The FDP’s Rainer Brüderle also chimed in: “People are smart enough to decide on their own when they eat meat and vegetables and when they don’t. Constantly telling people what they do is not my understanding of freedom and liberty.”
The Green Party – which polls suggest will receive about 15 percent of votes and could become a coalition partner with the opposition Social Democrats - says lower meat consumption would reduce the impact of farming on the environment and improve dietary health.
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| A Freedom BBQ Members of the youth wing of the liberal Free Democratic Party eat meat in front of the Green Party headquarters in Berlin to protest a proposed vegetarian day. |
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| "Give me sausage or give me death." Chancellor Angela Merkel takes a stand for dead animal consumption in tube form. |
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| . Current political party breakdown in the Germany . Composition of the 17th Federal Diet of Germany . . WARNING TO AMERICAN READERS Do not be confused. The German Parliament has six different political parties represented. That is called free elections . . . something the United States has not had for about 70 years. But fear not, you will soon leave this page and return to the fantasy of "free" American elections and forget all about those silly countries overseas where voters have multiple real ballot choices. |
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