Opinion
And what about the East, Mr. Chancellor?
Friedrich Merz has been ruling the country for more than 70 days. He has not yet been seen in East Germany. However, this cannot surprise this man.
Washington DC and Warsaw. Aachen and Arnsberg. Plus Paris, Rome, Vilnius, Turku, Tirana and of course: Berlin, Berlin, Berlin …
The Chancellor from the Sauerland got around in office in his over 70 days. This week he trudged through the fog in the warm coat on the Zugspitze with his Franconian friend Markus Söder. And next week he will be expected to visit the state government in Hanover.
After that, it looks like the schedule, there are vacation with Kanzlers. Must be too.
Funny only: Merz was not yet in a region as a chancellor. Where he once wanted to halve the AfD. Where his party rules without a majority or with the left division of BSW. Where, despite the summer heat, the wind can blow eerily in the face.
A demand from the State Chancellery concerned showed that this summer the Chancellor will apparently no longer stop by the scope of the Basic Law in those five countries that included in 1990.
Friedrich Merz has different, higher priorities. World politics! The household! The choice of the Federal Constitutionri … okay, that was not a good example now.
Probably nothing is strange about this weighting. The fact that Merz cannot do anything with East Germany is not a new knowledge, but its government policy. In the coalition agreement, which counts 144 pages, reference is made to that part of the Republic for just seven times, which older people in the older Federal Republic still like to call the “former GDR”. In the general debate on the household, he mentioned the east as little as in the latest ARD summer interview.
Friedrich Merz and Wilhelm II.
Now it might be objected to that Friedrich Merz is the first Chancellor to really live reunification. Similar to Wilhelm II, he could say: “I don’t know any more East and West Germans! I only know Germans!” The identity policy division of our fatherland must end!
However, Western Eastern reality speaks against this: in terms of economic performance, distribution of assets, demographic development, all social core data – and the voting behavior. The state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania will be re-elected in over a year. The Magdeburg State Chancellery in particular is in danger of being conquered by the AfD.
After all, there seems to be a certain awareness of the problem in the Chancellery. Because there are travel plans. At the end of September, Merz was expected in Thuringia for the East Minister Presidential Conference (yes, which is still available). And with the Saxon state government, an inaugural visit is under discussion at the end of October. It is also said from Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania that the Chancellor is expected around this period.
The eastern autumn offensive should also have to do with the fact that on October 3, German unity can be held for the 35th time – but the anniversary rotation can take place in Saarbrücken. At least geographically it is hardly western.
No idea for the east
In the end, the visits in Weimar, Dresden or Magdeburg will not cover up that this Chancellor has so far had no idea what to do with East Germany. He doesn’t even hit the right tone.
When he was still an opposition leader in May 2024, in which ARD was addressed to the majority rejection of German Ukraine policy in Saxony or Brandenburg, he said: “You have to explain more in the east than in the west, that’s true. But I like to do it.”
And because Merz was so nice in the swing, he continued: “And I always want to say: I really like going there, I like to be there. I also feel comfortable because the discussions are different, but they are also fun.”
Apart from the fact that Merz had borrowed these sentences from the model business for West German paternalism: they didn’t even vote. Because why did he not yet enjoy traveling East Germany as a chancellor?
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
