BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday accused the opposition Christian Democrats of artificially whipping up accusations of racism to smear him in the run-up to an election on Feb. 23 in which his party is facing a heavy defeat.
The news magazine Focus reported that, at a private event last week, Scholz referred to Joe Chialo, a Black politician from the Christian Democratic Union, as his party’s “court jester.” The term sparked outrage from senior CDU politicians, who leapt to the defense of the senator for culture from Berlin, who is the son of Tanzanian diplomats.
Scholz retorted he was misrepresented and said the allegations were “absurd and artificially constructed.”
Scholz’s comment reportedly came during a discussion about the CDU’s decision to pass migration-related measures in parliament with votes from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, a development that has dominated the election debate and which Scholz has also sharply criticized in public.
Arguing the CDU alignment with the AfD broke a major taboo in German politics, Scholz was cited as saying it was evidence the CDU was sliding further toward fascism. Chialo challenged him, asking whether he really believed the CDU was a racist party when he sits in the party’s leadership.
“Every party has its court jester,” Scholz was quoted as replying.
In response to the Focus report, Scholz defended the word he used: Hofnarr.
“The term I used here does not have racist connotations in everyday language. The accusation of racism raised is absurd and artificially constructed,” he said. “Personally, I value Joe Chialo as an important liberal voice in the Union.”
But members of Chialo’s CDU and other parties insisted the exchange was racist.
“With his racist comments, Olaf Scholz has proven yet again that he lacks the character required for his job,” said Ottilie Klein, the CDU’s general secretary in Berlin.
Julia Klöckner, a former agriculture minister and senior CDU politician, tweeted: “The current Chancellor assumes that Joe Chialo only has his position because of his skin color as a fig leaf for an inherently racist party. Whatever has become of Mr. Scholz …”
Scholz and his center-left Social Democratic Party are already expected to face a bruising election in 11 days. Polls show the SPD in third place, with 17 percent, behind the Christian Democrat camp with 30 percent and the AfD with 22 percent.
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