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CDU leader Friedrich Merz answers questions on ZDF. The focus will be on the shift to the right in Europe, the AfD and the work of the traffic light coalition.
Berlin – Two weeks after the European elections and ten weeks before the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, CDU leader Friedrich Merz answers questions in the ZDF-Summer interview. The focus will probably be on the shift to the right in Europe and the “firewall” to AfD While the AfD was able to make massive gains in the EU elections, the Union only profited somewhat from the weakening traffic light parties with a gain of 1.1 percent.
If you look at the east of the country, the AfD currently dominates – sometimes on a par with the CDU – the political polls. It is therefore hardly surprising that the CDU in Thuringia is already open to working with the BSW. In addition to state leader Mario Voigt, Merz himself also stressed that a coalition at state level would be conceivable. “It is not about the question of the Bundeswehr, nor is it about the federal government’s economic policy – that is decided in Berlin and not in the states,” the 68-year-old told MDR News.
Friedrich Merz in the summer interview: What is the situation with the “firewall” to the AfD?
A few days earlier, Merz declared in the ARD However, cooperation is not really an option. “That is absolutely clear, we have always said that. We do not work with such right-wing and left-wing extremist parties,” said Merz. Sarah Wagenknecht Both apply: “It is right-wing extremist on some issues, but left-wing extremist on others.”
If the CDU wants to prevent an AfD government at the state level, it will not only have to come to terms with Wagenknecht’s party BSW. The Left could also become the kingmaker in some cases; in Brandenburg (state election on September 22), the SPD and CDU are even sharing second place behind the AfD, according to current surveys. By September of this year at the latest, it will become clear what is behind Merz’s statements. Does the “firewall” deserve its name, or is it ultimately just a small, easily flammable wall?
In the past, Merz had attributed the AfD’s rise to the politics of the traffic light coalition; the results of the European elections across Germany should actually be “a final wake-up call” for the federal government. At the same time, the possible candidate for chancellor presented his party as a true alternative to the traffic light coalition and – like Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) – brought new elections into play. “A maximum of four years of traffic light is enough. Every day earlier that this spectacle comes to an end is a good day for our country,” said the CDU chairman at the start of the CDU party conference in Berlin on May 6.
The summer interview on ZDF
The “Berlin direct – summer interviews” have been providing a platform for the Federal President, the Federal Chancellor and the party leaders who are represented in the Bundestag with parliamentary group strength for around 36 years during the parliamentary summer recess. The eight interviews will take place between Sunday, June 23, 2024, and Sunday, September 8, 2024. The discussions will be led by the “Berlin direct” moderation team Diana Zimmermann and Shakuntala Banerjee as well as Wulf Schmiese.
The 20-minute conversation with Friedrich Merz will be broadcast on Sunday (23 June) from 6 p.m. in the ZDF Mediathek The summer interview will be broadcast on television at 7:10 p.m.
The K question within the Union is still unresolved: Merz, Söder or Wüst?
As far as the K question is concerned, the Union has repeatedly said that it will have decided on a candidate for chancellor by autumn at the latest. Merz is considered to have the best chances as party leader; for the first time, Merz was even ahead of incumbent Olaf Scholz (SPD) in a recent poll. But CSU chairman Söder is also still said to have ambitions to become chancellor – as are NRW Prime Ministers Hendrik WüstAfter the European elections, he told ARD that the K question was still open and that he even saw “more like five than ten” potential candidates for chancellor.
If the CDU performs worse than currently expected in the upcoming eastern state elections, the debate surrounding Merz and a possible candidacy for chancellor is likely to flare up again. And then at the latest, Markus Söder is likely to throw his hat into the ring again. (dpa/nak)
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