Now he’s back again, in the North Rhine-Westphalian state election campaign. But: Was Friedrich Merz actually really gone? The Sauerland is standing in the spa park of Bad Salzuflen this Wednesday afternoon, as chairman of the CDU and above all as leader of the opposition in the Bundestag.
The spa houses are whitewashed in the spring sun and show that the city has been spared from destruction since the Thirty Years’ War, in contrast to the bombed-out suburb of Irpin near Kyiv, from which Merz has just come.
Merz gets out of his company car in front of the Kurpark, today he is wearing a gray suit with a light blue shirt and tie. The local CDU celebrities introduce themselves, then it goes past the fountain with the well-occupied benches into the concert hall. There maybe 200 people are waiting for him, more than 600 would have found space. There are many pensioners there, some may have experienced the war in Germany 70 years ago. “Let us be grateful that we are doing so well,” says the 66-year-old today.
On Tuesday, Merz was still smiling in the German living rooms on the evening programs of the major TV stations via Schalte from Kyiv and asked himself why he had traveled to Kyiv, when an opposition leader had nothing to offer.
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Tanned, he showed himself in a sporty jacket. Of course, a entourage of journalists accompanied him as he walked through the ruins of Kyiv and looked at what a war that doesn’t focus on military goals, but senseless destruction, does. It also didn’t go unnoticed that Merz met the prime minister, the speaker of parliament, the Klitschko brothers and, of course, President Selenski, since both Merz and Selenski know about the power of images.
Friedrich Merz: “Many hopes rest on our country”
And now Bad Salzuflen, where the little Salze meanders rippling through the old town and the e-bus whirrs almost noiselessly through the old town. In the concert hall, Merz is on stage at the podium, in front of which is a poster of the NRW top candidate. “Do what matters,” is Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst’s slogan. Merz reaffirms his willingness to support Ukraine “if necessary, also militarily”.
Merz wanted to go to Ukraine even before the war began
Then he explains why he made the journey. The Ukrainian parliament invited him back in February. On February 22 he wanted to leave, but then the war came. He remained with the President of Parliament: “I’ll come as soon as possible.” After the Bundestag decision on arms deliveries, he thought the time had come.
Here in Bad Salzuflen, Merz – excluding Kyiv – is making his third campaign appearance this week. On Monday, Merz invited the presidencies of the CDU and CSU to Cologne to present a security policy paper from the party. It was supposed to be an energy paper, but these days it seemed unsuitable. The members of the presidency had learned from the media that their chairman wanted to travel to the war zone Ukraine to get an idea of the situation. After that he drove to Olpe and then east.
Telephone calls or video conferences do not replace personal encounters, Merz had teased Chancellor Olaf Scholz from Kyiv. The SPD politician had defended his course on television on Monday evening so as not to appear driven. At least he can be pleased that half of the Germans, according to the Yougov polling institute, share his opinion that they should not travel to Kyiv after Ukraine uninvited President Frank-Walter Steinmeier – in view of his dubious past policy on Russia and his role as foreign minister the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
“It is a problem that the President of the Federal Republic of Germany was disinvited. And that’s in the room,” Scholz said again on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting in Schloss Meseberg. Nevertheless, Merz was able to get back into his sleeping car to Poland on Tuesday evening with satisfaction, in order to fly back home from there after his media coup.
Merz’ goal: nationwide “stable over 30 percent”
Merz arranged the trip to Kyiv between ten campaign appearances, which he completed in North Rhine-Westphalia this week alone. After all, there is a lot at stake for the CDU leader: on the one hand, NRW is his home state, on the other hand it is the most populous federal state, which is always a seismograph for the mood in the federal government. Merz is about more: The CDU should again be “stable over 30 percent nationwide. I’m not giving up the claim of being a people’s party.” The election in North Rhine-Westphalia is “an important stage on the way”. “We are at the beginning of this path. I ask for your support for this.”
Merz reaffirms his willingness to support Ukraine “if necessary, also militarily”.
(Photo: dpa)
Prime Minister Wüst should definitely remain in power after Tobias Hans has already lost in Saarland. Wüst has only ruled in place of Armin Laschet for half a year, so the race is correspondingly tight. Challenger Thomas Kutschaty advertises on posters together with Chancellor Scholz: “Together for NRW and Germany.” To weaken the SPD figurehead Scholz is one of the primary tasks of the CDU. And maybe Daniel Günther will provide the decisive impetus in the last week on Sunday when he should defend the majority in Schleswig-Holstein. “We will probably see a very, very good result,” says Merz beforehand.
No wonder that the former MEP talks mainly about Ukraine, foreign policy, about “Putin and his regime”. He wanted to defend “democracy and freedom”. Willy Brandt showed leadership, but Scholz? He has issued two government statements so far, presented “as if he had read them for the first time”.
He is willing to contribute 100 billion euros in special funds for the Bundeswehr, but the Bundeswehr needs more money on a permanent basis. “We are witnesses to a turning point,” Merz exaggerates the situation and demands that Europe take responsibility. For him it is his most important topic. It is “no longer appropriate” that Germany “always sits in the passenger seat”. The time today decides “whether we survive before history”. It’s not about party politics.
Union is still at the beginning of its reinvention
The omnipresence of the opposition leader can hardly hide the fact that the Union is still at the very beginning of its reinvention after 16 years in office. This is shown solely by the behavior of the member of the Presidium, the Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer. While Merz saw the Bundestag decision for arms deliveries to Ukraine as a success (“We got something moving last week”), Kretschmer criticized him.
The CDU is social, liberal and conservative, says the party leader.
(Photo: dpa)
He also stands for a Russia-friendly course, as did CSU boss Markus Söder for a long time. The proximity to Vladimir Putin is not just a problem for the SPD. “Ukraine needs weapons to defend itself,” Merz clarifies. “It would be good if Germany didn’t always have to let itself be pushed,” he demands of Scholz. 30 embassies are back in Kyiv, “only the Americans are still behind us.”
It takes half an hour before he starts talking about the state election campaign, which is actually what it’s about. Wüst does his job “excellently well”, he is one of the “young top performers”. The CDU is social, liberal and conservative. There’s applause. Even with sentences like: “Zero tolerance for petty crime.”
His speech ends after 35 minutes. A small talk with the state parliament candidates, then we continue to Paderborn. It is the home of Carsten Linnemann, Friedrich Merz’s deputy in the federal party and at the same time head of the basic program commission.
The party is to have a new program by 2024, and eleven groups have just started work. A separate commission with Markus Kerber, special representative of party leader Merz, decided on the guard rails at a last meeting this Tuesday while Merz was in Kyiv. After intensive discussions about the basic values of the party, as participants report, five pages came out “short and sweet”.
The reference to God should remain part of the basic values of the CDU.
(Photo: dpa)
Accordingly, the CDU wants to remain a “bourgeois party” but also be open as a “people’s party” to all those who do not describe themselves as bourgeois and also not as Christian. But the reference to God remains, as Merz insisted early on. The idea of performance also remains, but it should not exclude the weak, the old and the sick. Merz himself made some comments for the final paper, which were of course added. Merz wants to present the paper in Berlin on May 30th.
But it’s not about the fundamentals on stage. “War mongers” are shouted by some, booing and whistling and drumming, after having disturbed Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner at the FDP event shortly before in the adjoining square. “Use your head, not your larynx,” shouts Merz while the police push back the disturbers. At the beginning of his speech, he can at least still feel comfortable: the cathedral bells begin to ring – as loud as they can.
More: CDU boss Merz surprisingly meets Selenski – “I’m really completely shaken”