Things are different in the USA than in Baden-Württemberg. Prime Minister Kretschmann is fascinated by the huge country – and advocates small states at home.
Sacramento (dpa / lsw) – Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann spoke out in forceful words on his trip to the US for more competition among the federal states. In Germany there is a “great fear of differences,” said the Green politician during a visit to the Californian city of Sacramento of the German Press Agency. The Germans are more afraid of competition – in contrast to the USA, for example. He called himself a supporter of competitive federalism.
The 74-year-old Prime Minister also envies attitudes towards federalism in the United States. “Federalism in Germany is not popular at all,” he said. “But here in the USA they stand by their state, they identify with it. They are first Californians and then Americans.” The Germans, on the other hand, wanted a textbook for everyone. Even if non-smoking laws are different in the different countries, everyone gets upset, Kretschmann criticized. The Prime Minister demanded: “We need more love for federalism.”
Kretschmann complained that in the debates about the role of the federal states, the accusation of small states always came up. The period of small states was the culturally most productive phase in this country, he said – and referred to Goethe and the construction of southern German baroque churches. “Every petty prince came up with something and did it,” he said. There is an uncanny tendency towards Unitarianism in Germany, he criticized. “If you can’t embrace difference, you can’t love federalism.”
The Germans put equality before difference, criticized Kretschmann. “I’ve been running against that for 40 years, with moderate success.” The Swiss, for example, didn’t mind if different taxes were levied in different cantons. That is not enforceable in Germany. “It’s really crazy in Germany. Federal love only begins when you want to merge countries.” If a Prime Minister proposes the merger of two countries, he falls below the five percent hurdle in elections.
Kretschmann has long been calling for a new relationship between the federal and state governments and regularly fights for the competences of the states. He accuses the federal government of passing laws for the legal entitlement to all-day care and then leaving the states to do it alone. The head of government is traveling to the United States this week with a delegation of more than 100 people. In Pittsburgh and California he wants to make contacts for the Southwest. The focus is on the topics of artificial intelligence, autonomous driving and the future of the healthcare industry.
On Wednesday Kretschmann visited the capital of the state of California, Sacramento. California and Baden-Württemberg want to work even more closely together in the field of cyber security in the future. Economic cooperation is also to be intensified. A new contact point for US companies will be set up in Stuttgart. “Our business model is export, so you have to work with high-tech regions,” said Kretschmann. Germany can learn from the US how to translate knowledge into business models, Kretschmann told the dpa. “The Americans are ahead of us there.”
But even the superpower can learn something from the Germans, according to the prime minister. “Of course we have completely different social structures,” he said. “So many homeless people on the streets, that would be unthinkable for us. We wouldn’t let it get that far.” Germany is not only a country of innovation, but also a welfare state. There are other debates in the United States, such as whether there should be compulsory health insurance: “That’s as far away from our imagination as the moon.”
