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Conservative contender to succeed Merkel goes on attack in TV debate

Armin Laschet, the conservatives' candidate to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel, went on the offensive in the first major prime-time TV debate on Sunday in a battle to save his ailing campaign less than a month before elections.

Conservative contender to succeed Merkel goes on attack in TV debate
Armin Laschet, North Rhine-Westphalia's State Premier and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) candidate for Chancellor at the TV debate in Berlin on August 29th, 2021, ahead of general elections taking place on September 26th, 2021. (Photo by Michael Kappeler / POOL / AFP)

The 60-year-old leader of Merkel’s CDU-CSU alliance had gone into the election race with a comfortable lead over his rivals from the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens.

But several missteps in the last weeks have left his popularity in the doldrums and support for his party slipping just as Merkel is due to bow out of politics after 16 years as German leader. 

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: When exactly will Merkel leave office?

Instead, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who was largely written off by many in the beginning given lacklustre support for his SPD, has now sprung forward in the race.

The 63-year-old has even overtaken the leader of the Greens, Annalena Baerbock, as she too stumbled from a series of scandals, including plagiarism claims.

(R-L) Olaf Scholz, German Finance Minister, Vice-Chancellor and the Social Democrats (SPD) candidate for Chancellor, Annalena Baerbock co-leader of Germany’s Greens and her party’s candidate for Chancellor and Armin Laschet, North Rhine-Westphalia’s State Premier and the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) candidate for Chancellor at the TV debate. (Photo by Michael Kappeler / POOL / AFP) 

An INSA poll published by Bild am Sonntag newspaper just hours before Sunday’s TV battle showed support for Scholz’s SPD climbing to 24 percent. The CDU-CSU alliance meanwhile sank to its all-time worst score at 21 percent. The Greens were steady at 17 percent.

‘Headwinds’

Laschet acknowledged the poor showing in the polls but sought to sell his party to Germans as the face of stability.

“I have always felt headwinds. Even now,” he said, but added that “in such moments we need steadfastness, reliability”.

“That is the offer of the (CDU-CSU) — stability and reliability in difficult times,” he said.

But viewers appeared unmoved.

A poll commissioned by broadcaster RTL of 2,500 viewers found 36 percent saying they felt Scholz won the television debate.

Some 30 percent plumped for Baerbock while only 25 percent were in favour of Laschet’s performance.

Laschet, currently state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, saw the tide turn against him during the deadly floods that struck western Germany in
mid-July.

Caught on camera chuckling behind in the background with local officials while Germany’s president gave a speech mourning victims of deadly floods, Laschet has since been unable to halt a falling trend in popularity.

READ ALSO: German chancellor candidate Laschet sparks anger with flood zone laughter

READ ALSO: Gaffe-prone Merkel heir with big shoes to fill

Going on the attack on Sunday, Laschet sought to call out the SPD’s refusal so far to rule out a coalition with the far-left Linke party.

But Scholz would not be drawn, saying only that his party would not sign up to a coalition with a party that did not make a clear commitment to NATO.

Laschet also blasted Merkel’s coalition, of which Scholz’s party is a junior partner, over the situation in Afghanistan.

“It is a disaster… a disaster for the West but also a disaster for the government,” he said, noting that it was already clear by April that the US was pulling out of Afghanistan but that too little was done to prevent the frantic evacuations seen in recent days.

No mistakes
In comparison, Scholz has avoided mistakes.

“Like no other of his competitors, he has embodied the statesman in the election battle, the one who finds the right words, be it during the flood disaster in July or about the terrible images that have reached us from Afghanistan,” noted right-leaning daily Welt.

It also pointed out that those longing for a continuation of Merkel’s style of no-frills but steady government may have picked Scholz as their choice.

Even if they hail from different parties, Scholz himself is not shy about letting a bit of the shine from the still-popular Merkel rub off on him.

“It is never bad for a man to be compared with a successful chancellor,” he said in a recent interview with Süddeutsche daily.

Asked who they prefer as a chancellor, Germans have in polls given Scholz a commanding lead over Laschet and Baerbock over the last weeks.

The below chart from Wahlrecht.de shows what the outcome would have been had the election been this Sunday, according to various recent polls, including the INSA one published by Bild.

The SPD is ahead of, or on a par with, the CDU-CSU in all but one of the five most recent polls (highlighted in pink).

Underlining the seriousness of the situation for Merkel’s conservatives, which have led four consecutive coalitions, Sueddeutsche said the CDU-CSU “will have to fight at the moment to be even in a position to be in negotiations for the next government”.

“At the CDU headquarters, they are now placing their hopes on the three-way debate of the chancellor candidates,” it said.

Member comments

  1. What a classic case of “None of the above please!.
    3rd rate politicians with 3rd rate personalities and policies. Just what Germany needs right now. Same same, but different!

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GERMAN CITIZENSHIP

German conservatives vow to overturn dual citizenship if re-elected

Foreigners in Germany are waiting on tenterhooks for the introduction of the new dual nationality law on Thursday - but the centre-right CDU and CSU say they would overturn the reform if re-elected next year.

German conservatives vow to overturn dual citizenship if re-elected

“The CDU and CSU will reverse this unsuccessful reform,” Alexander Throm (CDU), spokesperson on domestic policy for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told DPA on Tuesday.

“Dual citizenship must remain the exception and be limited to countries that share our values.”

Throm also criticised the new citizenship law for reducing the amount of time foreigners need to live in the country before naturalising as Germans, describing the new residence requirements as “far too short”.

“After five or even three years, it is not yet possible to determine with certainty whether integration has been successful in the long term,” he stated.

“The recent caliphate demonstrations and the rampant Islamist extremism, often by people with German passports, must be a wake-up call for us all.”

READ ALSO: Which foreign residents are likely to become German after citizenship law change?

Despite vociferous opposition, the alliance between the Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party (CSU) was powerless to stop the traffic-light coalition’s citizenship reform passing in both the Bundestag and Bundesrat earlier this year. 

The reform, which permits the holding of multiple passports, lowers residence requirements and removes language hurdles for certain groups, is set to come into force on June 27th. 

But with the CDU and CSU emerging as clear winners in the recent EU parliamentary elections and regularly landing on 30 percent or above in the polls, it’s possible that the party could be on course to re-enter government next year. 

In this situation, the centre-right parties have pledged to try and undo what senior CDU politicians have described as a “dangerous” reform.

“It is not unusual for successive governments to reverse decisions made by the previous government,” Andrea Lindholz, the head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group said in a recent response to a question

“We will maintain our position on this and will continue to strive for a corresponding change.”

READ ALSO: What are citizenship offices around Germany doing to prepare for the new law?

Whether the CDU and CSU can secure enough votes at both state and federal elections to change the law in the future remains to be seen.

The parties may also have to compromise on their plans with any future coalition partner, such as the Greens, Social Democrats (SPD) or Free Democrats (FDP), all of whom support liberal immigration laws and the holding of multiple nationalities. 

‘Citizenship devaluation law’

The CDU and CSU parties, which form a centre-right alliance nicknamed the Union, have long been opposed to dual nationality in Germany.

During their years of governing in a so-called grand coalition with the centre-right Social Democrats (SPD), the parties had regularly made reforms of citizenship one of their red lines, citing the danger of hostile nations influencing Germany from within. 

In a recent parliamentary speech back in January, Throm had slammed the bill as a “citizenship devaluation law” and accused the government of trying to generate a new electorate to win votes.

CDU politician Alexander Throm speaks in a debate in the German Bundestag

CDU politician Alexander Throm speaks in a debate in the German Bundestag. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Soeder

In comments aimed primarily at Germany’s large Turkish diaspora, the CDU politician claimed that people who had lived in Germany for decades but not taken German citizenship had already chosen their old country over Germany.

The majority of Turks in Germany are also supporters of the authoritarian president Recep Erdogan, he argued.

Responding to the claims, FDP migration expert Ann-Veruschka Jurisch said the opposition was fuelling resentments against migrants by claiming the government was “squandering German citizenship”.

In fact, she argued, the reform has tightened up requirements by ensuring that people who claim benefits and cannot support themselves are unable to become German citizens.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about Germany’s citizenship law reform

In addition, the B1 language requirements have only been softened in a few exceptional cases, for example to honour the lifetime achievements of the guest worker generation who had few opportunities when they arrived, Jurisch said. 

If foreigners have committed crimes, the authorities will be able to investigate whether these involved racist or anti-Semitic motives before citizenship is granted, she added. 

With reporting by DPA

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