Reinhold Würth, Chairman of Würth-Group, a worldwide manufacturer and wholesaler of industrial equipment, has written a letter to his 25.000 employees in Germany, cautioning against supporting the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).
Deviating from the company’s habit of sidestepping political developments, he rejects the exceedingly negative picture of the country’s economy and democracy habitually painted by the far-right:
“[I]n today’s Germany, no one has to suffer cold or hunger. Social systems on the state and federal level provide an abundant amount of support to those in need. But I would say that it is the norm for citizens in Germany to be able to live a comfortable, rather free life and to have good or at least adequate employment. […]
The country’s savings rate is high, we have a healthcare system of European standard. We have much shorter working hours than other countries. Everyone over the age of 18 has the right to vote and may cast their vote without being influenced, even, if they so please, for the AfD.”
Würth also urges his employees to carefully consider their votes at the upcoming elections of 2024. He warns against voting for the AfD—a party, he points out, that has publicly toyed with the idea of abolishing multiparty democracy altogether—simply out of dissatisfaction with the current government made up of Social Democrats, Free Democrats and Greens.
Würth’s letter has been covered by numerous German media outlets including Handelsblatt, Frankfurter Allgmeine Zeitung, Zeit, and Welt.
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