There are still two weeks until the election – and the Union is further behind the SPD. Armin Laschet and Markus Söder are now demonstratively hooking each other. Will the weekend bring the hoped-for turnaround?
With demonstrative unity and sharp attacks on the SPD and Red-Green-Red, Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet and CSU leader Markus Söder want to avert an impending defeat in the federal election in two weeks.
“We now want to win the federal election together with a clear course,” said the CDU chairman on Saturday at the CSU party conference in Nuremberg, where he was celebrated with long applause. Söder, who would have liked to become a candidate for Chancellor himself in the spring, shouted to Laschet: “We want you to become Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.” The CSU boss spoke of a “signal of determination and fighting strength”: They will “rock” together for the next two weeks.
In the past few weeks there had been repeated critical tones in the direction of Laschet in the CSU. On Thursday, CSU General Secretary Markus Blume said in an interview that the Union was “naturally” better off with Söder in the polls – he later said that this was aimed at Bavaria. In nationwide surveys, the CDU and CSU are currently noticeably behind the SPD.
It is “sharp on the button,” said Laschet, who admitted mistakes in the election campaign. “Of course not everything went well, as we know ourselves.” Now you have to explain to people that the election is about who stands for the right course at the decisive moments in German history – and that is the CDU and CSU.
In his speech, Laschet primarily attacked his SPD opponent Olaf Scholz directly – especially because he did not bring about a clear rejection of a possible left alliance, but kept a back door open for a coalition with the left. The Union, on the other hand, has clearly demarcated itself against the radical left, as well as against the right, stressed Laschet. «We will never talk to the AfD. They have to get out of the parliaments, ”said the CDU chief.
Laschet called a possible government participation of the left in an alliance with the SPD and the Greens a threat to internal and external security and the economy in Germany. The left say no to NATO, have rejected each of the major EU treaties and have not even approved the delicate deployment of the Federal Armed Forces to rescue German citizens from Afghanistan. He warned that someone like that should not take on government responsibility in Germany.
In addition, the tender plant growth should not be endangered after the corona pandemic. “Tax increases and more bureaucracy will jeopardize prosperity,” said Laschet, emphasizing that “it does not matter who is in the next federal government”. And as Federal Minister of Finance, Scholz only managed so well “because Angela Merkel took care of him”.
Laschet again criticized Scholz’s behavior after the public prosecutor’s office searched his ministry. “I would have liked a little more care in several cases in the financial supervision,” said Laschet. In addition, after the search it would have been right to assure the public prosecutor’s office of support and not to cast doubts about the rule of law.
In investigations against those in charge of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), a money laundering special unit of the customs, the Osnabrück public prosecutor had the Federal Ministry of Finance and Justice searched on Thursday. Since last year, the public prosecutors have been investigating a suspicion of thwarting punishment in office by the FIU. The central office, which is part of the Ministry of Finance, is said to have not passed on information from banks about money laundering to the police and the judiciary. Scholz later told the “Welt” that the investigations were directed against unknown employees in Cologne. In this context questions had arisen for the two ministries. This “could have been put in writing,” said Scholz. “Now they have been posed in a different way. Everyone can judge that for themselves. “
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