German Business Advisor Warns Against AfD Vote
Peter May, a long-time advisor to family-owned businesses, is cautioning German entrepreneurs against voting for the AfD. “Every entrepreneur who votes for the AfD is making a bad mistake – as a person and as a businessperson” May told the Spiegel. “The AfD would take away everything that has made the German economy great.”
May, a jurist, also criticized the Union’s chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz, saying, “Merz is trying to win back CDU voters who have defected to the AfD by presenting himself as a strong leader. That’s legitimate, but the thin ice is there. A joint vote with the AfD is an unnecessary breach of taboos. We need clever action after the election, not populist symbolism before the election.”
May believes the German middle class has been too complacent in politics, saying, “Germany’s family-owned businesses have consumed politics for too long. Like all of us, they were too quiet during the Merkel era and assumed everything was fine. Now, people are suddenly waking up and even some entrepreneurs are getting angry – unfortunately, some of them quietly and others loudly.”
While most entrepreneurs sympathize with the CDU and FDP, May notes that some are showing support for the AfD, either quietly or openly. “We can’t demand the abolition of the basic income or its reform and at the same time insist on keeping the inheritance tax as it is” May said. “It’s foolish to defend privileges that have socially undesirable consequences and widen the gap between the rich and the poor.” This, he said, would damage the image of the entrepreneur in society.
May is one of the most popular advisors to the German middle class, with clients including the Haniel, Heraeus, Haribo and Viessmann families.