The deputy FDP chairman Wolfgang Kubicki has apologized after a Putin comparison to Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens). "I would like to formally apologize to Robert Habeck," Kubicki said in a statement. "To put him in line with a wanted war criminal is complete nonsense and a derailment. That's not possible."
Robert Habeck was "an upright democrat, and I prefer to argue with him in the matter than about the path of defamation," added the FDP politician.
In an interview with the subscription channel "Massengeschmack-TV", Kubicki had said with a view to Habeck: "He thinks freedom is the insight into necessity. This means that those who voluntarily submit themselves are truly free. And those who oppose the fact that they have to submit, who have to make their own decisions, are in reality unfree. After all, he is forced to oppose. This is a concept of freedom that Vladimir Putin could easily translate to his own ruling milieu."
The statements of Kubicki, who is also vice-president of the Bundestag, had triggered great indignation. Bundestag Vice-President Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) told the Tagesspiegel: "This is not how you deal with each other among democratic parties and certainly not among coalition partners."
Göring-Eckardt accused Kubicki of damaging the office of Bundestag vice-president, and also harming his own party: "The FDP as a whole must be careful not to continue to put itself on the sidelines," Göring-Eckardt said before the apology became known. "Wolfgang Kubicki is once again violating the dignity of the office, and in terms of content the FDP is mutating into a no-sayer party. I find this very regrettable and worrying."