Kommentar: Friedrich Merz hat nur noch zwei schlechte Optionen
Die CDU-Ministerpräsidenten drängen den Kanzler zur Kursänderung. Die Partei muss entscheiden, ob sie bei dem straffen Reformkurs des Kanzlers bleibt.
The hour of truth has arrived at the CDU party headquarters in Berlin. During a crisis meeting of the party's leadership, mainly the state premiers are pressuring Chancellor to change course. Chancellor Friedrich Merz finds this paradoxical. Just four weeks ago, the government leaders had secured him the job. Merz had been severely shaken after the state elections in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, and Berlin.
The state premiers Markus Söder and Hendrik Wüst only needed to offer a helping hand, not hinder, after the disastrous results for the CDU. Instead, they issued a press release agreeing to support Merz and to bolster him, rather than oust him. However, the timeline for Merz's tenure as chancellor was coming up quickly, even seasoned political observers did not anticipate.
As early as four weeks in, the chancellor could be overwhelmed by the same state premiers. It seems they wanted to take the reins on how the CDU and government find their way out of the crisis. The party must decide whether to stay on the tight reform course of the chancellor, perhaps concerning pensions, care, and health. Or should it address "the reality of life of people" more in the future, as the state premiers emphasize? "Life reality" here seems to be a code word for abandoning the reform brake.
Written by urgent.news from Handelsblatt's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
