Parties: Merz criticized – suitability as a candidate for chancellor questioned

The criticism of CDU leader Friedrich Merz for his statements on how the Union deals with the AfD at the local level does not stop. Saarland’s former Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU) even doubted Merz’s suitability for a chancellor candidacy, which has not yet been determined. Hans attested to Merz’s lack of leadership. Hesse’s Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU), on the other hand, does not see the party and parliamentary group leader as damaged.

Statements by Merz in the ZDF summer interview on how to deal with the AfD in the municipalities were often interpreted as a softening of the clear demarcation between the CDU and the AfD. The party is classified and observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected right-wing extremist. Merz called the allegations absurd on Monday and made it clear that his party’s incompatibility decision applies. There is also no cooperation between the CDU and the AfD at the municipal level. The party leader had received a lot of criticism from his own ranks for his statements in the summer interview.

The big trembling before the summer interview

The CDU politician Hans said to the magazine “Stern” when asked whether Merz was still the right chairman: “Meanwhile you have to tremble before every summer interview because you don’t know what will come out of it in the end. To be honest, I don’t want to imagine that a Chancellor appointed by the CDU would cause such concerns.” Hans considers the question of whether Merz will be a candidate for chancellor to be “completely open”. At the same time, he emphasized: “Especially in difficult times, it is important that the top candidate of a party has government experience – and a sure instinct when it comes to difficult questions.” Hans warned of a course shift by the Union away from the centre.

Hesse’s Prime Minister Boris Rhein spoke in the ARD “Tagesthemen” with a view to the Merz interview of “misunderstandings” and “misinterpretations”. In the end, Merz made his position clear. “There is a clear, unambiguous and also very thick firewall to the AfD,” said Rhein. “The firewall is up, and it’s very strong.”

The President of the Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, told the “Welt” that the CDU chairman subsequently corrected his statements from the interview. “But to be honest, I’m surprised and a little shocked at first.” The statements are now in the world. He continued with a view to the CDU: “The question arises as to whether the firewall is full of holes and no longer keeps what it originally promised. If Merz should have done it wisely, I would find that questionable.”

Foundation of the fire wall in the municipalities

CDU Vice Andreas Jung even sees the municipal level as decisive for the demarcation of the Union from the AfD. “The clear demarcation in the municipalities is the foundation of the firewall to the AfD,” said Jung of the “Augsburger Allgemeine” (Tuesday). “The AfD is a right-wing extremist party that tolerates hate and hate speech,” criticized Jung. “There can only be a clear edge to the AfD, at all levels, today, tomorrow and the day after.” This is also the attitude of Merz.

Secretary General Linnemann also made it clear at an event of the Hesse CDU on Monday evening that Merz had only recently confirmed that as long as he was party chairman, there would be no cooperation with the AfD, no matter what level.

There is still dissatisfaction with younger members of the Union about the current debate in the CDU. “It annoys many in the party that we are now discussing the wrong topics again,” said Ronja Kemmer, chairwoman of the young group of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, to the newspapers of the Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft.