Ninety minutes with Friedrich Merz, in which the question sometimes arises: Is that Friedrich Merz at all?
In any case, a man is discussing with the members of the CDU, who says, for example: “We have to talk about the future viability of the welfare state.” He also wants to “integrate his party towards the center” and thinks that Germany must “remain an open country”. And finally he says: “If you have any doubts, you will see a party leader with me who is also vehemently committed to a young woman.” For this he will, if necessary, “mess with the old top dogs”, because: “We have to be careful that we do not become a party of the old men.”
So it’s better to take a look twice to be able to say without a doubt: This is actually the person speaking Merz who, at the age of 66, is again applying for the party leadership of the CDU.
Even if he sprinkles a Merz classic here and there, such as the one according to which the CDU must “without any doubt” be the party for internal security, the reinvention of a former hard-edge politician can be astonishing. His big topic now is social policy, as he revealed last week with a successful surprise effect. His one-time strategy of approaching renegade AfD voters in order to bring them back into the Christian Democratic family, he seems to see as a failure. With a little time lag, this follows Söders’s realization that one cannot overstink the skunk.
“It’s good when this year is over”
In the case of Merz, there is probably also the fact that he does not want to leave the big middle of the party soul to the competitors Norbert Röttgen and Helge Braun alone in the competition for the CDU chairmanship. He has already failed twice because of that.
The CDU is currently trying to renew itself in phases. After the application phase, the introductory phase begins. When the voting phase is over at some point, then many in the CDU should look forward to a little rest phase again. Merz also admits right at the beginning of the event: “It’s good when this year is over.”
Before that, however, he still answers – always friendly and knowledgeable – the questions from the base in the live chat. A Mr. Kramer wants to know how he wants to modernize the CDU. More bottom-up, less top-down, says Merz. He wanted to know how “the simple party members think”. Incidentally, a small request to Mr. Kramer and the other viewers: “Please give the party your e-mail address!” You only get that from about half of the members, says Friedrich Merz. This is the only way to better involve the grassroots.
A Mr. Finger asks about the possibilities of the unification of the CDU and CSU. Definitely no, says Merz. The Union is an “almost ingenious construction”, although he expressly found the mutual interaction in 2021 not ingenious. “And that was also one of the reasons for the electoral defeat,” says Merz. With best regards to Markus Söder.
Only after an hour is the first question from a woman put through, and she immediately complains about the men-heavy nature of the event and the party. “We have to do better,” says Merz. Later two more women come, one of them is about to retire and wants to know why Merz did the same thing to the party chairman at his age? “Parts of my family asked me that too,” says Merz. There is indeed something irrational about it. He’s honest.