Conciliatory for the Merkel camp
Merz feels “fit” to run for chancellor
March 6, 2024, 4:13 a.m
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Officially, the Union does not want to decide on the K question until after the three state elections in East Germany. In an interview, however, CDU leader Merz leaves no doubt for the first time that he sees himself as the future candidate for chancellor. He also reveals why he is the right one.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz has openly signaled for the first time his willingness to run for chancellor of the Union. “I feel fit and I can’t change my age,” said Merz in an interview with “Stern”. He could not identify a lack of popularity among women, which is often problematic in the media. “There are studies where I actually do better with women than with men.” The CDU leader, who had expressed doubts about his candidacy for chancellor in December, now referred to recent election successes: “The successes have shown that our strategy is correct,” he said.
The 68-year-old combined his claim to leadership with a warning to the Union to avoid any debate after the formal decision on the candidate for chancellor: “I expect cohesion and loyalty.” The Union’s decision should only come after the state elections in East Germany in September. Merz admitted that some of his statements led to debates. However, the objections against him were never so fundamental that the impression was solidified in the Union that he was the wrong person. “The criticism was always selective, never fundamental,” he said. “Nobody gets into this area of politics without flaws.”
In the interview, the party leader also addressed the camp of former Chancellor Angela Merkel, with whom he has had a long-standing feud. He announced that he would not appear in the election campaign as if he wanted to completely reverse Merkel’s legacy. “You can’t go and tell people that everything you did for 16 years was wrong.”
Former Merz critic Prien signals support
Merz is now also receiving support from the liberal wing of his party. “He can be chancellor,” deputy party leader Karin Prien told the magazine: “If Friedrich Merz wants to become a candidate for chancellor, he has my full support.”
Prien, who was initially one of Merz’s critics, was confident that the party leader will be able to better reach the group of women and Muslims in the future. “It is now bringing issues such as education, social policy and cohesion more to the fore. This is important for many women,” said Prien: “If we also manage to discuss the topic of religion in a differentiated way in our draft program, people will too people with a migrant background can help break down prejudices against the CDU.”
Prien assumes that the controversial sentence about Muslims in the draft of the CDU’s new policy program will be changed again at the federal party conference in early May. The current formulation “Muslims who share our values belong to Germany” was criticized by Muslim associations as exclusionary. “I think the wording will be discussed controversially again at the party conference. We in Schleswig-Holstein, but also others, will make suggestions for wording,” said Prien.