Merz does not want to allow power struggle over K issue

Who will be the Union's candidate for chancellor? Merz? Söder? Or someone completely different? The CDU and CSU are still trying not to address this question too openly. However, the CDU leader is determined to prevent another fight. Will he succeed?

CDU chairman Friedrich Merz does not believe that CSU leader Markus Söder will allow another internal CDU/CSU power struggle over the Union's candidacy for chancellor at the next general election. "Markus Söder and I simply get on too well personally for that," said Merz. "And he also knows that we won't do it again like we did in 2021 and don't want to." The CDU chairman added: "I won't allow something like that to happen again either."

When asked whether he would be the "natural candidate for chancellor" in the event of an early election to the Bundestag, Merz answered cautiously. "We are discussing this within the CDU and CSU. First the party chairmen, then of course the state chairmen. When the time comes. And we will stick to that."

The office of Chancellor requires experience, strong nerves, leadership and teamwork skills, said Merz. They would discuss this and then make a decision together. Of course, he would also discuss the issue with his family. As before, he would not make any decision "that does not meet with the approval of my family".

Is Merz too old?

He approaches this question "with great humility and a great deal of respect, because I know that this office is the most important political office in the Federal Republic of Germany", said Merz about a possible candidacy for chancellor. The office requires a high international presence and a high level of international respect. "I also have a number of factors to consider, which I will carefully reflect on and decide for myself. That is not a matter of course."

When asked whether there was anything against him becoming a candidate for chancellor, Merz replied: "The question of which voter groups I can reach as a person is an issue." In addition, he will turn 70 a few weeks after the next regular Bundestag election in the fall of the year after next. "That would make me the oldest candidate for the office of Federal Chancellor in the Federal Republic of Germany after (the first CDU Chancellor) Konrad Adenauer. These are considerations, these are considerations that I must also keep in mind."

In response to the comment that the likely presidential candidates in the USA in the 2024 elections there are significantly older, Merz said: "And precisely because it is like this in the USA, it is more of a warning for me not to simply take it for granted that you can really still fill such an office at this age." US President Joe Biden is 81 years old, while his possible challenger and predecessor Donald Trump is 77.

He feels fit, said Merz. When he recently wanted to fly in a Bundeswehr Eurofighter, he was "checked through for seven hours at the Bundeswehr's Aeromedical Center - and there were no complaints".

Time for decision still open

The question of when the CDU/CSU will decide on the K issue depends on two factors, said Merz. "Firstly, when will the Bundestag elections actually take place? Secondly, if it doesn't regularly take place until fall 2025, then we need a year in advance for the candidate to really prepare well for the election."

With regard to Söder's proposal to wait until after the state elections in September 2024 before deciding on a candidate for chancellor, Merz said: "That could be after these state elections in the east, it could also be before. That is a question of the political assessment of the situation and we will make it together." The following applies: "The two party chairmen are always potential candidates."

The CDU chairman defended controversial statements such as those about "little pashas" or the description of Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a "plumber of power". "Every now and then, the leader of the opposition has to use pointed language so that an issue becomes an issue. And only through contradiction does it become an issue." He has set such topics. He will continue to do so in the future: "I will not fundamentally change or pretend. I am who I am, with all my strengths and weaknesses. That's part of it."