Germany’s
Merz rips into his rivals — but might have to work with them soon
The
conservative leader’s attacks signal the next government may be just as
discordant as the one that recently fell.
December 16, 2024 9:40 pm CET
By James Angelos
BERLIN — Friedrich Merz took another step toward becoming
German chancellor on Monday — while launching some scathing attacks on the very
people with whom he will likely have to govern.
As the conservative leader lined up with most of Germany’s
lawmakers in a vote of no confidence in the country’s beleaguered current
chancellor, Olaf Scholz, Merz accused the heads of the center-left Social
Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens of having humiliated the country and
caused its economic decline.
The heated and largely inward-looking parliamentary debate
preceding the vote — the SPD and the Greens are in government now and could be
future coalition partners for Merz as well — suggested the next coalition may
be as contentious and ideologically incompatible as the one that just fell.
“You’re leaving the country with one of the biggest economic
crises in its post-war history,” Merz told Scholz, accusing the SPD leader of
“embarrassing Germany” in dealings with its European counterparts.
The vote against Scholz paves the way for an early election
set for Feb. 23, an outcome that was virtually assured following the collapse
of Germany’s fractious three-party coalition last month. Monday’s bitter debate
suggests that what comes next may not be pretty either, at a time when Europe
is dealing with multiple fragmented, weak governments.
Merz’s only
choices
Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led
by Merz, and its conservative sister party in Bavaria — the Christian Social
Union (CSU) — are currently leading polls by a wide margin. But they remain far
from an absolute majority, so will need to govern in coalition with at least
one other party.
But you wouldn’t have guessed it from the tenor of Monday’s
debate. “We are replacing this standstill and the redistributive economic
policies of the Social Democrats and Greens with an economic policy of
motivation and competitiveness,” Merz said.
He argued for cuts to social spending and more private
investment in the economy, and
castigated Economy Minister Robert Habeck of the Greens as “the face of
Germany’s economic crisis.”
Merz’s natural coalition partner, the fiscally conservative
Free Democratic Party (FDP) led by former Finance Minister Christian Lindner,
is polling at just five percent, not nearly enough for an absolute majority and
barely above the threshold needed to gain seats in parliament.
That doesn’t leave Merz with many palatable choices for
coalition allies.
Germany’s parliament is increasingly fractured due the rise
of radical parties on both sides of the spectrum. Merz has said he refuses to
govern with the radical-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is now
polling in second place at 19 percent. Meanwhile, the newly formed
populist-left Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is in fifth place with 7
percent.
“Preoccupied
with ourselves“
Much of the political conversation so far has centered on
Germany’s domestic issues, rather than on how the country will deal with the
massive global challenges it now confronts, from Donald Trump’s return to the
White House — and the possibility that he’ll stop U.S. military support for
Ukraine — to the breakdown of the free trade that has long underpinned
Germany’s export-oriented economic model.
Scholz, for example, barely mentioned Ukraine in his
comments during Monday’s parliamentary debate. When he did mention the war it
was mainly to reinforce the message that he is the prudent choice to prevent an
escalation in the fighting given his refusal to provide Ukraine with
German-made Taurus cruise missiles.
“We will not do anything that puts our own security at risk
and that is why we are not supplying any cruise missiles, a far-reaching weapon
that can have a deep impact on Russia,” Scholz said. “And we are certainly not
sending any German soldiers to fight in this war, not with me as chancellor.”
Merz, on the other hand, criticized Scholz for failing to
keep his promise, following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, to fundamentally
rebuild Germany’s depleted armed forces after decades of disarmament.
But he offered few details on how he would pay for such a
military expansion, other than to say it would be a budgetary priority.
Habeck was one of the few to warn that Germany’s
pre-election debate has been too insular, noting “we are largely preoccupied
with ourselves” while the world around us “is not in a good state of affairs.”
He also warned the next government may not bring the unity
and effectiveness many desire.
“There are no guarantees that we will get back to a quick
and smooth government after the new election,” he said.
Traveling in
another galaxy
Scholz began the debate by defending his record as
chancellor and vowing to maintain social spending, securing pensions and jobs
while pursuing a “politics of respect” for those with lower incomes. He blamed
his political opponents for Germany’s stagnating economy.
“We need more growth,” he said. “But then we must ask
ourselves how much stronger our economy could have grown if our infrastructure
were up to scratch, if we had the electricity grids, wind turbines and solar
parks that we need for a clean, secure and affordable energy supply —
electricity grids, wind turbines and solar parks that some of the parties
represented here have been fighting against for years.”
Merz seemed to save much of his vitriol for Robert Habeck,
the chancellor candidate for the Greens and economy minister inside Scholz’s
coalition, lambasting his focus on clean-energy initiatives. | Hannibal
Hanschke/EPA-EFE
Merz shot back, asking Scholz what he had been doing while
in government as an SPD politician for 22 of the last 26 years.
“Why didn’t you actually do all the things you mentioned
here?” Merz asked. “Were you traveling in another galaxy? Have you traveled to
another planet?”
But Merz seemed to save much of his vitriol for Habeck, the
chancellor candidate for the Greens and economy minister inside Scholz’s
coalition, lambasting his focus on clean-energy initiatives.
“Mr. Habeck, you are the federal minister of economics in
the fourth-largest economy in the world,” Merz said. “People want to know more
than how they can replace their refrigerators and how they can get a heat pump
into their cellar.”
Merz also criticized Green proposals to raise taxes on the
wealthy.
“I can only say to you, have a good journey with your
proposals and then look for a coalition partner who will go along with them,”
he said. “It’s not us, Mr. Habeck, to put it bluntly. No way will you be able
to do this economic policy with us, to make it very clear right from the
start.”
Nette Nöstlinger contributed to this article from Brussels.
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