Friedrich Merz is reminiscent of a figure from a poem by Wilhelm Busch. It is about a man who helps a drunk that has fallen. As a thank you, the fallen to the helper with his hand on his cylinder. He slips over the eye, nose and mouth.
The final verse reads: “Without hearing, without seeing, the good thing is sensational, and he asks how it happened and why it happened to him.”
Merz and his government have a small majority in the Bundestag and no majority in the Federal Council. It is not held together by a political project, but by the insight of being without alternative. It is a “work coalition”. Your survey values and those of the Chancellor are more mixed.
A strong, stable power factor
No wonder that Merz is trying to succeed on European terrain rather than on local ground. His first trips abroad took him to Paris, Warsaw, Brussels, Kiev, Rome and Vilnius. He wants to revive the Weimar triangle, strengthen the Franco-German axis as well as NATO, to move Europe into a robust pro-Ukrainian line.
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“We will and we have to invest a lot of additional energy in advanceing Europe,” he says. Germany is back on European stage. In the election campaign, he promised a quick delivery of the Taurus cruise mission, accused the traffic lights of hesitation. Europe has to come to a new unit to be a strong, stable power factor again, says Merz.
The Schengen Europe of the open borders is hollowed out
But after these numerous trips in such a short time, it can be said that it doesn’t look good for this unit. Due to his activism, Merz did not deepen the divisions, but made it obvious.
Example migration: Merz wants to take border controls, rejections, the AfD takes the area of attack. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt still tightens the course. The Schengen Europe of the open borders is hollowed out.
When Merz was in Warsaw, Poland Prime Minister Donald Tusk became very clear. He would not accept it, he said, “if any country – not even Germany – sends groups of migrants to Poland”. The controls already led to long traffic jams.
The topic is a steep template for the right -national Polish opposition party PIS. There is also displeasure in Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Luxembourg about the German plans.
No trace of new unit
Example Middle East: Merz says that he will invite Benjamin Netanyahu to Germany, although an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court is against Israel’s Prime Minister. Unthinkable for France President Emmanuel Macron, who speaks of wanting to recognize a state of Palestine.
The majority of the EU countries question the partnership agreement in the Gaza Strip because of Israel. Germany pursues its own way and speaks against a review. No trace of new unit.
Example Ukraine: Here the representatives of Germany, Poland, France and Great Britain moved at least one strand when they demonstratively traveled to Kiev two weeks ago. They thought they were supported by US President Donald Trump when they ultimately demanded a 30-day ceasefire from the Kremlin.
Then Trump tipped over and left the Europeans like poodle. And now? No ceasefire, no schedule for negotiations, no further pressure on Vladimir Putin – apart from a 17th “sanction package”, which is also not sharper because Hungary turns across.
New European unity? New strength? New vigor? None of it. Merz also knows that-and looks targeted in another field: a megal-romance US president is demanding a disparate Europe more and more vehemently in the customs dispute.
On his visit to Vilnius, the Chancellor said about the Ukraine policy: “We do not make ourselves illusions. There is no quick solution.” Maybe he should have attached the little word “more” to his first sentence.
Source: Tagesspiegel
I work as a news website author and mostly cover the opinion section. I have been writing since I was a teenager, and have always enjoyed telling stories. I studied journalism at university and loved every minute of it. After graduating, I decided to move to London and take up a position with a Global Happenings. It has been an incredible experience, learning about all sorts of different cultures and meeting some amazing people. My goal is to continue learning and growing in my career so that I can provide readers with the best possible content.
