Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) received the Order Against Animal Seriousness in Aachen – combining a political appeal with a carnival song performance.
In his inaugural speech, the 50-year-old called for courage from the Germans. “We live in a time where we need heroines and heroes again, in Europe, in Germany. And all of us who are here have to be heroines and heroes again,” said Günther. And when you ask him when the time has come, he answers with a song. To the audience’s surprise, the North German head of government actually sang the song “If not now, then when?” the Rhenish carnival band Höhner.
Applause for Günther
The Order Against Animal Seriousness has been awarded since 1950 and is intended to honor personalities who “demonstrate humor and humanity in office.” It is awarded by the Aachen Carnival Association. At the award ceremony, politicians appear as carnival speakers, which can be a delicate matter – a good speech in the Bundestag is different than a prepared speech.
At the end, Günther received a lot of applause from the more than 1,000 guests in the ballroom. Even if his so-called knight’s cap kept threatening to slip off his head. “My head is too big,” he stated. In addition to the cap, he also received a so-called Edelprinte, a local specialty, with his portrait, which he apparently did not initially recognize as such (“I thought that was Karl Lauterbach”).
Top at Merz, Lauterbach and Habeck
Günther not only brought pathos, but also one or two jibes at colleagues. For example against Friedrich Merz, who received the medal in 2006. “Friedrich Merz received the medal long before me,” Günther stated dryly. “From what I heard, for once he didn’t need three attempts.” Merz was elected CDU party leader at the third attempt in 2022.
Another tip hit Karl Lauterbach (SPD). Günther referred to the new relationship between the Federal Minister of Health, which he had recently confirmed. “Or as Karl Lauterbach would say: I have been infected with the love virus,” Günther imitated him. “But at this point I’m actually a bit worried about Markus Lanz. How will he deal with it if he can no longer spend every evening with Karl Lauterbach in the future?”
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) also received something. Günther thanked Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens), who gave the eulogy for Günther at the award ceremony and chose the words “brittle and honest instead of mean and dangerous”. Your party colleague Habeck knows him well from the north, said Günther. “I don’t think he gave you much advice because your speech was far too understandable for that.”
Baerbock gives a laudatory speech
Baerbock had received the award the year before – so she now gave the laudatory speech. Shortly before her appearance at the carnival, she spoke in Jordan about the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. An almost unreal discrepancy of topics.
Baerbock also used the speech to poke fun at the CDU. She said she was happy about the medal for Günther “even as a Green.” “Because I thought: Man, another Green, I wouldn’t have thought the carnival club could do that. After all, Daniel Günther is one of the most prominent critics of the current CDU party leadership.” He stands for environmental protection “and above all for common sense.” She’s already thinking “of the sad eyes of the many people in our country who are expecting a Günther and getting a Söder on the Union’s K question next year.”
More politicians on stage
Another speaker was CDU politician Julia Klöckner, who worked on the traffic light parties. “Has anyone actually seen Olaf Scholz recently?” asked the former Federal Minister of Agriculture. “So you really get the impression that he’s secretly training for his second jogging accident,” she said. “And this time he wants to have two eye patches. Then he won’t have to see all the misery anymore.” Scholz temporarily wore an eye patch after a jogging accident in 2023.
Meanwhile, FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki, also on stage, used cruise metaphors and spoke about the “MS Berlin” “with its captain Olaf, its first officer Robert and the event manager Annalena and the finance officer Christian.” The hope is increasing “that the MS Berlin will either run aground or will still find a port where you can leave the ship,” said Kubicki. At another point he said: “This is our captain Olaf. A modern cruise ship has just been turned into a dilapidated galley.” Not every punchline was met with thunderous applause.
When presenter Jessy Wellmer asked him if he was angry, Kubicki said no. Wellmer asked what it was like. “Like in the German Bundestag,” he said. “Nobody listens.”
