Jung: "We want colorful, diverse cities"

In the "cityscape" debate, Leipzig's Lord Mayor Burkhard Jung (SPD) has called for more prevention to counter problems in cities. "If we don't manage affordable housing, then impoverishment will increase", said Jung on Deutschlandfunk radio. "If we don't manage to guarantee security and have enough police and public order offices on the streets, then people will feel insecure." Jung is also President of the Association of German Cities, but emphasized in the interview that he was speaking in his role as Lord Mayor.

Jung: Don't point the finger at supposed fringe groups

All of this is not a question of the "cityscape", however. Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) had either put his foot in his mouth in a classic way with his statements or he had "very consciously tried to poach in the environment of right-wing ideas", said Jung. "We want colorful, diverse cities. (...) We want to welcome people of all colors in our cities." It is about tackling problems with more efforts towards integration and security instead of excluding others and pointing the finger at supposed marginalized groups.

Debate since mid-October

Merz had triggered the debate in mid-October with a statement on the German government's migration policy: "Of course, we still have this problem in the cityscape, and that is why the Federal Minister of the Interior is now also in the process of facilitating and carrying out repatriations on a very large scale." He only became more specific a week later: Those migrants who did not have permanent residence status, who did not work and who also did not abide by the rules that apply in Germany were causing problems, he said.

In the meantime, when asked what he meant by his statement about problems in the cityscape, he replied: "Ask your daughters."