Katharina Dröge, chairwoman of the Green parliamentary group, defended her colleague Zoe Mayer after criticism over a repost of an eight‑year‑old video featuring Baden‑Württemberg CDU candidate Manuel Hagel.
She told the German editorial network that when a woman who points out a man’s misconduct is attacked, “something fundamentally wrong is happening”. “It sends a message to many young women that they should stay quiet, otherwise they will be blamed as the problem”. Dröge added that Hagel himself later dismissed his own words as “mist”.
In the clip, the then‑29‑year‑old Christian Democratic general secretary and future lead candidate speaks in an Ulm restaurant. He talks about visiting a Realschule where 80 % of the students were girls, remarking that “there are worse situations for a 29‑year‑old MP than this”. He then recalls a girl named Eva with brown hair and brown eyes, saying, “I will never forget the first question”.