For Wolfgang Kubicki, the matter is clear: flirting must be allowed, even in a professional environment. He demonstrated this a few years ago at a meeting with FDP colleague Silvana Koch-mehrin. But where is the line between harmless flirting and harassing or even abusive behavior?
FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki has vigorously rejected public allegations of a possible abuse of power against his party colleague Silvana Koch-mehrin. He made it clear that from his point of view there had been no misconduct at a meeting in Brussels many years ago. According to Kubicki, the conversation was about whether Koch-Überin could imagine the post of FDP general secretary.
In an interview with WDR, Koch-Überin said that 20 years ago, before meeting Kubicki, she asked her husband “to stop by after about an hour because I suspected there was more to it”. She said the problem is that 20 years ago she didn’t see this as a problem. However, she did not raise any specific allegations against Kubicki.
After debates on social media, the FDP politician said that the accusation that it was a “job interview” or the “exploitation of a position of power” is “silly because I didn’t hold a position of power and didn’t have a job to offer”. . Kubicki: “At that time I was considered a pariah of the party, I was chairman of the state parliamentary group in Schleswig-Holstein.
He had been asked by a number of young politicians to get in touch with Koch- Mehrin to find out whether she could imagine this function and to publicly bring her into play. According to the party statutes, however, the right to propose the post of general secretary lies with the chairman. Koch-Überin knew that too.
Statements made by Kubicki on the ARD program “Maischberger” caused a stir, where he was asked about an interview from 2010. There he said he had hit on Koch-Überin. Now he emphasized that it was a matter of flirting.
In a written statement to ntv, Kubicki said: “There is a crucial difference between assaults – including the exploitation of positions of power – which definitely cannot be tolerated in a party, and a flirt. A flirt is always respectful because he only works on both sides.” Assault is disrespectful, according to Kubicki, because it is done unilaterally: “You should always keep this difference in mind.” The 70-year-old also made it clear: “Of course, flirting in a party is still allowed, just as flirting in everyday professional life can hardly be forbidden.”
