Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, a prominent pro-Ukraine advocate from the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), revealed that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had used the same phrase to describe her and other outspoken supporters of Kyiv, including Social Democratic Party (SPD) lawmaker Michael Roth and Green Party MP Toni Hofreiter.
Strack-Zimmermann has been one of Scholz’s most vocal critics, particularly regarding his hesitation to send long-range weapons to Ukraine. She has frequently challenged him in public, accusing him of being overly cautious in his leadership.
“This became known internally a year ago,” she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Scholz probably doesn’t remember anymore. Any more questions?”
Her remark about memory appears to reference Scholz’s testimony in the high-profile Cum-Ex tax fraud case, during which he repeatedly claimed to have no recollection of key meetings.
A government spokesperson dismissed the allegations of a “tantrum,” calling them “absurd” and citing former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama’s well-known phrase: “When they go low, we go high.”
The timing of this revelation further complicates Scholz’s leadership challenges. It follows a prior controversy in which he allegedly called Berlin’s culture senator, Joe Chialo of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a “court jester” for the conservative party.
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