Understandable and objective in the criticism on site: Friedrich Merz sharpens his profile as opposition leader – and casts a bad light on Chancellor Scholz. At least in Poland.
He must have liked the headlines. Once again he was a step faster than the chancellor, , he, the shadow chancellor, uses the weaknesses of the federal government, .
Of course, one can argue about what Friedrich Merz achieved on his trip to Warsaw, let alone was able to achieve at all. Certainly, the CDU boss has succeeded in attracting attention.
Poland had expressed a need to speak, was verbose about the sluggish Panzer ring exchange with Germany – and Merz sought a clarifying conversation. At least that’s the impression.
The opposition leader travels to the upset neighbor to calm things down, as he “reportedly” learned before the visit. However, one can assume that the job-related opponent of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and his traffic light government may have had more than one attempt at mediation in mind.
His trip to Kyiv was already officially marked by the “political responsibility of the opposition and the government”, which Merz wanted to express with his visit. Merz should also have been concerned with demonstrating determination and drive – which Scholz lacked from the point of view of his critics, not least the opposition and Kiev.
The CDU leader forestalled the Chancellor with his trip to the crisis area, who was perceived as a procrastinator and hesitant in view of the creeping deliveries of war equipment and changing reasons for his lack of a visit.
A statement after the trip suggested that Merz was obviously about more than just the matter, that the trip could also have been an attempt to raise his profile: “I am very grateful to President Selenskyj for accepting my request for an invitation from the Federal President “, , the way for a personal meeting of the Federal President and the Federal Chancellor with President Selenskyj is now free. Thanks to Merz, of course, who wants to have mediated decisively in the matter.
Friedrich Merz: An opposition leader is working on his profile
Several sub-messages resonated during his two-day visit to Warsaw, which ended with a trip to Lithuania. Merz traveled again to the (diplomatic) crisis area, again accepting the criticism on the spot, while the chancellor was on vacation and parliament was on the summer break. One takes care of that. But Merz was also noticeably careful to put his own role into perspective so as not to give the impression that he wanted to torpedo government policy.
He would neither engage in secondary foreign policy nor be an intermediary between governments . He is the representative of the Federal Republic of Germany and as such gets an idea of the situation. The trip had been planned for weeks and had nothing to do with the current tensions.
Although Merz showed understanding for the “disappointment” in Poland and warned that Germany should play a more concise role in foreign policy, the opposition leader also found defensive words for the federal government. For example, he does not share the impression of the Polish Deputy Foreign Minister that Germany is practicing a “deceptive maneuver” when exchanging rings (), which he also said during his talks in Warsaw. “I tried her (the allegations, note d. editor) to refute, but I could not refute them across the board”, .
After all, Merz only has limited influence on government action, for example with regard to arms deliveries, although he has an important role in the Bundestag as opposition leader. As a result, he could not present himself as a more committed quasi-chancellor: he would have raised expectations that he cannot meet. In return, Merz was able to sharpen his profile as an opposition leader, sensible in his dealings and objective in his criticism, who bends over the situation on the spot before criticizing it in the Bundestag.
That makes an impression, at least in Poland: “He spoke a different language than Angela Merkel or the current Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who, in the middle of the most compromising situation in German politics since 1945, thinks his country should take responsibility for Europe,” commented the pro-government Warsaw resident Newspaper “Gazeta Polska” the visit. “The saying ‘headless like Germany’ would probably be remembered for this. It looks as if Merz could change this picture if Scholz loses power.”
Friedrich Merz should have liked that too.
Source: Stern
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