CDU's Merz becomes chancellor candidate
Friedrich Merz, leader of Germany's conservative CDU, has been nominated as the chancellor candidate for his party and its Bavarian sister party CSU in the country's next general election in 2025. "Merz is our man," CSU leader Markus Söder said on Tuesday, after his own withdrawal from the race.Commentators take very different views on the new candidate.
The right choice
The Neue Zürcher Zeitung approves:
“With Merz as candidate there is at least a chance that he will actually implement what he has announced: a policy that brings the chaos of mass immigration under control and prevents the country's de-industrialisation by returning to the social market economy. ... In his roughly two and a half years at the head of the CDU, Merz has repositioned the party, shifting it not drastically, but clearly to the right. Those who, like many Christian Democrats, are afraid of the word 'right' can also say: back to the centre, meaning to the actual centre, and not to the left, where Merkel had pushed her party to make it difficult for the SPD and the Greens to mobilise their voters.”
A cold party leader vs. a boring one
The SPD shouldn't celebrate too soon, warns Der Spiegel:
“Merz worked for the financial giant Blackrock, owns a private plane and once gave his liberal-market pamphlet ('Only those who change remain true to themselves') as a thank-you to a homeless person who returned a notebook to him which he had lost. Merz comes across as cold. ... But does the chancellor exude more empathy? Olaf Scholz doesn't inspire people. ... What's more, during his joint appearance with CSU leader Söder, Merz hinted at what will be his focus in the election campaign: migration and the economy. It is in these two areas, particularly the latter, that the government's weaknesses and Friedrich Merz's (limited) strengths are said to lie.”