Merkel ally slams ‘hipsters’ for choosing to speak English

Germans who speak to each other in English have sparked the ire of one of Angela Merkel’s finance ministers, who has branded them ‘hipsters’.

Jens Spahn wrote a column in national newspaper Die Zeit which said the habit was a sign of ‘provincial self-dwarfishness’.

The politician, a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) said Germans sometimes use English to each other in order to appear ‘cosmopolitan’ – but actually achieve the opposite.

He said it was discouraging migrants from learning German.

The junior minister has previously voiced his anger, telling Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung: ‘It is increasingly getting on my nerves that in some Berlin restaurants, the waiters only speak English.’

And he added: ‘No one in Paris would have such a crazy idea.’

The Green Party tweeted a 1983 photo of their lawmakers, one of them sporting a long, fuzzy beard, sitting in parliament next to former Chancellor Helmut Kohl

Spahn, 37, said that not speaking German helps create a new ‘elitist global tourism’.

The German chancellor has introduced legislation making it compulsory for asylum seekers to learn German, with those failing to do so unable to qualify for permanent residence.

Spahn’s condemnation of bearded young men allegedly hanging out in Berlin’s chic downtown cafes and refusing to mingle with ‘normal Germans’ was greeted with derision on Twitter and other social media.

The Green Party tweeted a 1983 photo of their lawmakers, one of them sporting a long, fuzzy beard, sitting in parliament next to former Chancellor Helmut Kohl. 

The caption – in English – read, ‘Jens, we looked like hipsters long before you knew you’d hate them.’