General debate in the Bundestag
Merz’ general settlement and Scholz’ frontal attack – it bangs in the Bundestag
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (middle, SPD) and opposition leader Friedrich Merz (r., CDU)
© Kay Nietfeld / DPA
Who is to blame for the mess? Chancellor Scholz and opposition leader Merz blame each other for the energy crisis – and share vigorously against each other.
The bang effect was small, but it banged anyway. And huge. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) fought a battle of words in the general debate in the Bundestag on Wednesday – and vigorously shared it against each other (Read more here).
There is no shortage of controversial and controversial issues these days, from the smoldering energy crisis to the third relief package to the quarrel about the planned shutdown of the three remaining nuclear power plants in Germany.
It was therefore to be expected that things would get heated at the start of the four-hour debate – the general debate on the budget deliberations is traditionally used by the coalition and the opposition to exchange blows on government policy. However, Merz had already set the tone in the past few days.
Friedrich Merz: Scholz should stop “madness”.
On Sunday when he ARD “summer interview” fired off a cascade of criticism against what is now the third relief package by the traffic light coalition: there were no proposals to support the economy, the CDU leader complained, at least by including pensioners and students “something has been corrected” that “what the coalition did wrong “. But only, according to Merz’s reading, because it appealed to the Union.
Or on Monday when he’s in Deutschlandfunk practically denied the federal government any sanity in the energy crisis. He was “stunned” by what was currently happening in the coalition, and his silence made the chancellor “partly responsible for the disaster that is about to hit us in the fall.” In the debate about the continued operation of the three remaining nuclear power plants, Merz accused the Federal Minister of Economics, Robert Habeck (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), of acting “ideologically” – which was tolerated by a silent chancellor.
If he were head of government himself, Merz replied to a question about this, he would have brought responsibility for energy policy to the Chancellery “weeks ago” so that all those responsible “at least sit around the same table, including the experts who really know it.” As if amateurs were at work. Merz: “As leader of the opposition, I can only appeal to the Chancellor to end this madness.”
Almost word for word, Merz repeated these and other allegations against Scholz in his speech in the Bundestag, which was a kind of general settlement with the federal government: The latest relief package was a “hodgepodge of compromises from the level of the lowest common denominator”, the government was lacking in economic policy ” “every ability to think strategically” and in general the chancellor lacks “political leadership”. Last but not least, he accused Scholz of prolonging the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine with the hesitation of the traffic light government.
Olaf Scholz: Merz “wound wrong”
Scholz, who often reads his speeches and put the manuscript aside for an unusually sharp reply, was anything but taciturn. “Anyone who talks about division endangers cohesion in this country,” said the Chancellor to the Union faction leader. “Don’t underestimate our country. Don’t underestimate the citizens of this country.” Scholz energetically rejected the negative assessment of the Union faction leader on the situation in Germany. Here Merz was “wound wrong,” said the Chancellor.
Again and again he accused the Union of serious omissions during the reign of the then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and tackled Merz hard: “You just talk about the topic and the problems of this country. And that’s really a very, very big problem .” And added: “And if others solve the problems that you haven’t even recognized, then talk about it.”
Scholz emphasized that decisions had been made and largely implemented. “At a pace that no CDU-led government in this country has ever been able to,” the government will manage, for example, to get the first terminals for the import of liquefied gas up and running. The chancellor also defended his government’s “very effective” approach to arms deliveries to Ukraine and reaffirmed his optimism that Germany would get through the winter in good shape despite the cutback in gas supplies from Russia.
Pretty best rivals
Scholz and Merz have exchanged views over the past few weeks and months about the alleged shortcomings of the other.
So Merz already threw the Chancellor one “completely unacceptable” use of language before, in relation to arms deliveries to Ukraine, the German public and parliament would “deceived”. After the visit of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the Chancellery, which caused an uproar with a comparison to the Holocaust (Read more here), said Merz: “Olaf Scholz not only damages himself as a person, but also the office of Chancellor.”
Scholz already strongly opposed the opposition leader during a budget debate in June. The Chancellor said at the time that Merz would not get away with always just asking questions and never taking a correct position on something. “They danced through the whole thing here and didn’t say anything specific.” And if Merz takes a position on something, then “it gets embarrassing,” said Scholz at the time.