Kommentar: Merz kauft sich Zeit – doch wofür eigentlich?
Der Kanzler versucht, aus der Wahlniederlage einen Aufbruch zu machen. Auch wenn er „Rückgrat, Standhaftigkeit und Geduld“ beschwört, der politische Spielraum wird kleiner.
Friedrich Merz is simply carrying on. At 18:15 on Sunday evening, the Chancellor attempts to turn the electoral disaster of his CDU into a fresh start by promising a tough reform course. However, the election winners in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin are the Left, AfD, and SPD parties. At first glance, their results tell of three parties with little in common.
But upon closer inspection, they reveal a shared mood. People want the state to function again and for their lives to improve. Yet, they do not want too much to change. The real loser of the evening is identified as Friedrich Merz. Even though he urges "courage, steadfastness, and patience" on Sunday evening, the votes were also a reckoning with his policies and possibly with him as Chancellor.
His greatest adversary is not the CDU state premiers or the AfD, but rather the German longing for stagnation. Whoever wishes to change this state of affairs faces three problems.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
