Friedrich Merz: International press show to the future Chancellor

Olaf Scholz was adopted with the Beatles from the Chancellery in the big tap, and the Bundestag will choose the new Chancellor on Tuesday morning. It should be Friedrich Merz, but he narrowly failed in the first ballot. Its popularity disappears in Germany, but what about its reputation internationally?

In one thing, the media agree almost continuously: Merz will do it differently than its predecessor. And he will have anything but easy. The presses from abroad:

New York: “The new Chancellor and his coalition government, led by his center-right party CDU, will be faced with a number of national crises, including a stagnating economy and tense relationships with the United States.

An aspiring nationalist party, the anti-immigration alternative for Germany (AfD), which was classified as extremist by German Constitutional Protection, has overtaken Merz and his political mainstream colleagues in some surveys.

In the months since his party’s election victory in February, Merz has aggressively tackled these challenges.

He criticized President Trump and questioned the stability of American democracy. He also met with foreign counterparts to lead a new, strong Europe. He quickly broke an important election promise to the budget discipline and with its center-left rival a deal to loosen the sacred limits of German state debt so that ‘everything that is necessary’ can be spent on national defense. “

“Politics”, Copenhagen: “The German self -image balanced between European responsibility and historical caution for decades. For a long time, conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel was the epitome of this balancing act: calm, patient and factual powerful. The social democrat Olaf Scholz tried to continue this style, but was no longer seen as a strength, but as a paralysis.

Friedrich Merz now promises a new time in which this tradition is broken. He stands for more active leadership and speaks openly about duty and energy. Where Merkel played conflicts down and Scholz hesitated, Merz prefers to.

Perhaps the time has finally come to define German identity not only negatively-as non-nazistic, non-nationalistic, non-leading-but as a positive responsibility that is borne by ambitions rather than guilt. “

“Rzeczpospolita”, Warsaw: “On Tuesday, the CDU boss Friedrich Merz will take over the management of the German government. He comes from the same European political family as Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Such a party usually facilitates cooperation. In the question of the great war in the east, Merz rejects a standstill. and prepare yourself.

The question arises whether Merz’s leadership role is really in the interests of Poland when building a Europe without the United States (or perhaps against the USA). Can Poland become independent, for example, in the same pace of security and the armaments industry as Germany from the United States? Germany, which itself no longer imposes military restrictions, can quickly convert factories from civilian production to cannons.

And we? In the past, we annoyed ourselves that Germany did not make any investments in armaments and weapons and ignored Russian imperialism. Today we can be happy that the Germans take the Russian threat seriously and prepare for defending themselves. But what will happen in the future? And what will the upgraded Germany look like? A dramatic political change doesn’t have to end with Trump’s America. “

Zurich: “The countries of the West are in a crisis of meaning, old certainties such as religion have broken out in many places, the aging decomposes village structures and inhibits the economic growth. Politically, Merz is in a situation that is far more serious than at the time of Merkel or Scholz. to expand, as well as a new, socialist populism.

To survive in this storm, Merz needs strong nerves and an indestructible inner compass. He must not confuse the published opinion with the public. Conversely, he should not raise the rebellion against the mainstream to the guideline of his actions, as is the case with Trump. He has to keep calm under all circumstances. “

“La Repubblica”, Rome: “(…) In times of turbulent changes, Chancellor Merz’s leadership role should be observed closely, since he could possibly play a key role, perhaps in coordination with Ursula von der Leyen. (…)

The ability to counteract the AfD must prove itself in practice, but Germany’s turn, which invests in infrastructure, defense, innovation and ecological change, is not to be underestimated and will have an impact on all of Europe.

However, it would be a mistake to expect immediate results. The economy in Germany is still anything but cheap, the growth forecasts for this year are zero. And the problems that have accumulated in the past twenty years and have come to light after Covid will not disappear in a few months. (…)

The nature of the government coalition in Germany offers an opportunity to persuade the majority and opposition with their respective interlocutors to common goals, starting with the financing of the European community. “

“DNA”, Strasbourg: “(…) The Chancellor is not granted a grace period. Not external policy because of the Ukraine conflict and the trade war called out by the United States, to which Germany exports to a large scale. And also not on the home front. Friedrich Merz is under forced to compulsive. unstoppable.

Upgrading (so far a dirty word in Germany), ecology, immigration, poor infrastructure (…) Since he is aware of the challenges, he has already refrained from 500 billion to accommodate holy German debt brake. The traditional Atlantic also clearly commented on the falling of Trump, which in paradoxically could boost the Franco-German engine again.

France expects a lot from him. Too much? Under his predecessor Olaf Scholz, the relationship had stalled. In Merz ‘office there is a photo of Adenauer and de Gaulle, who signed the Élysée Treaty in 1963. A big promise. (…) “

“The Irish Times”, Dublin: “The takeover of the chancellorship by Friedrich Merz at the head of a coalition of the CDU/CSU and SPD makes most of the European allies in his country relieve a sigh of relief. They hope that Germany will overcome economic doldrums and political drifting apart.

There is already signs that the vital, once dynamic Franco-German leadership role is renewed. At least that’s the promise: a revived economy, combined with the project, to spend a trillion euro for infrastructure and defense, which will also benefit Europe as a whole. The largest economic impulse since the fall of the Berlin Wall-in response to Donald Trumps, laving in relation to the NATO obligations of the United States. A strong commitment to independent European defense, including solidarity with Ukraine-with weapons and the willingness to consider NATO membership. And another commitment to European integration. “