Friedrich Merz, the lonely chancellor: “I am responsible for that alone”

The Chancellor actually goes on vacation. Friedrich Merz, you hear, vacations in his house on Lake Tegernsee in Bavarian. But you don’t know that exactly – like many other things.

Anyway, on vacation there is hardly any thinking for Merz. The upcoming meeting of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin for Ukraine, in which, in addition to the affected country, the EU is also to be left out, and joint action with the other European heads of state and government. And then there is the dramatic situation in Gaza – and a historical decision that the Chancellor made quite lonely.

On Sunday, around 2 p.m., Merz is apparently sitting in a television studio in Munich. At least the Frauenkirche can be seen on the photo shown behind him. The ARD records an interview that is to be broadcast in the “Daily Topics” in the evening, but is apparently also placed online at the request of the Chancellery.

The hurry is understandable. Because there is a lot to explain. For example: Why did Merz make his decision to partially suspend arms deliveries to Israel without explicit consultation with the security cabinet, his CDU tip or the coalition partner CSU? And had he really believed that the Union faction, which was recently so rebellious in the judge’s election, would simply accept such a turning point?

In any case, since last Friday, when Merz announced its decision in eleven dry sentences, the excitement has once again been great. Member of the Bundestag and officials are outraged, the CSU feels over and the Junge Union revolts openly. Merz is criticized in content and form. So he once terminated the unrestricted solidarity towards Israel – from Angela Merkel to the “state rush” – one -sidedly. And he also communicated this dictation poorly afterwards.

The displeasure extends to the top of the Union. “That would be a departure of decades of foreign policy continuity towards Israel and, as such, at least in need of explanation,” said CSU state group leader Alexander Hoffmann. A remarkable open sentence, which was expressed in a similar form in the CDU leadership, even if it was also connected with the request not to be cited by name.

Merz reacted. He had a longer package insert on Saturday. “The decision about further armor goods is expressly limited to a possible use in Gaza,” says the paper that the star is present. And: “So far, weapons and ammunition that are used in the Gaza Strip have not been delivered to Israel.”

According to the interpretation of the Chancellery, it is neither a historical turning point nor a turning point. It was all about a political protest, announced by government circles. And that was obviously arrived.

In parallel to the appeasement efforts, the Chancellor personally telephoned a number of Union politicians. Markus Söder, the Bavarian Prime Minister and CSU boss, was also underneath. Then, on Sunday afternoon, Merz sits in the television studio, over the light blue shirt he wears a dark blue jacket. The fact that he is officially on vacation can only be seen from the lack of a tie.

The Chancellor declines his decision. It was only “a reaction” to the decision of the Israeli security cabinet to take Gaza city.

Otherwise: “The principles of German Israele policy remain unchanged. Nothing has changed. And nothing will change.” There is only one dissent with Tel Aviv: “And that affects the military approach in the Gaza strip.” But that endure a friendship.

However, Merz stays with the decision itself. “We can,” he says, “do not deliver weapons into a conflict”, which is “only led by military means” and possibly cost hundreds of thousands of victims. “We can’t do that, we don’t – and I won’t do that either!”

But why does “Tagemehemen” moderator Helge Fuhst want to know that this decision has obviously only integrated only a few people, whether from the cabinet, the Union or the coalition?“I didn’t make this decision alone,” replies Merz. “But at the end of the day it is a decision that I have to answer for alone. And I also help it alone.”

So there he is, the lonely chancellor. “But I can’t put them for democratic voting,” he says. “This is about very fundamental postures.” And: “I am not impressed by public pressure as much as my own picture.”

A Chancellor who takes a fundamental attitude in a central foreign policy and historically burdened question without facing the democratic coordination: that would actually be new if it is solidified. It reminds how Merz tried as an opposition leader to copy Donald Trump’s executive order style as a precaution.

But a German head of government does not have the power of a US president. With almost every decision, he relies on a majority in parliament. And this majority, as the almost failed chancellor’s election and the canceled judge election showed, is more uncertain than ever.

Even if Merz receives support in the CDU, from parliamentary group vice Norbert Röttgen, for example, or his party vice Michael Kretschmer: Others in the Union lead to the fact that the Chancellor will be even more dependent on his faction after the summer break, in the case of the household, in the social reforms and yes, when choosing the constitutional judge. With lonely decisions such as the Israel, he risks this existentially necessary follow -up.