Status: 08/31/2021 2:46 p.m.
Chancellor Merkel joined the election campaign with a sharp attack. SPD top candidate Scholz must clarify his relationship with the Left Party. Clear statements are needed as to who is ready for which coalitions.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has clearly distanced herself from the attempt by the SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz to present himself as a legitimate successor in office during the election campaign. “With me as Chancellor, there would never be a coalition in which the left is involved. And whether this is shared by Scholz or not remains open,” said Merkel in response to a reporter’s question at a joint press conference with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz .
“Moved a lot”
In this context it is “so that there is a huge difference for the future of Germany between me and him,” the German head of government made clear with a view to the SPD election campaign strategy. In these times in particular, clear statements are required about the continuation of government work, regardless of the constellation.
At the same time, the Chancellor emphasized that she was pleased that Scholz recognized what had been achieved in the grand coalition. You’ve moved a lot with each other. “It was not always the case in the past that the SPD talked about it positively. But it is good that it is,” said Merkel.
Accusation of “inheritance sneaking”
In the past few days there have been voices from the Union that the SPD candidate for Chancellor would insubordinately pose as Merkel’s successor. Hesse’s Prime Minister Volker Bouffier said yesterday that Finance Minister Scholz was a member of the government and was trying to do “something like Merkel”. “But that’s a kind of political legacy sneaking. We’ll make that clear.”
CSU boss Söder saw it the same way. Scholz gave the appearance of being Merkel’s successor – that was “a kind of inheritance sneaking” and could not be accepted, said the Bavarian Prime Minister in the ARD summer interview. He warned of a possible left slide.
Scholz recently had himself photographed with his hands folded into a diamond for “SZ Magazin” – Merkel’s trademark. The SPD’s top candidate has not yet explicitly ruled out a coalition with the Left Party, although the party is still calling for Germany to leave NATO. According to current surveys – like other alliances – a coalition of the SPD, the Greens and the Left would have a majority in the German Bundestag.