“If energy costs get as high as rents, then people will start to consider whether they can’t live with wearing a thick sweater at a room temperature of 15 or 16 degrees [Celsius],” Thilo Sarrazin told German daily Rheinische Post on Tuesday.
The Berlin politician, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), also rejected suggestions from The Left party that the state help the poor with heating costs.
“Heating costs are included in payments for those who receive unemployment benefits,” he said. “At my house the temperature was always 16 degrees … I survived.”
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