When changing into Chancellor: Merz needs to make “deals” with Trump – “Upright walk and clarity” | EUROtoday

CDU chief Friedrich Merz needs to signify German pursuits extra strongly in international coverage if he turns into chancellor. He wished to satisfy the longer term US President Donald Trump on an equal footing. “We have to go from being a sleeping middle power to a leading middle power again,” stated the Union Chancellor candidate to the journal “Stern”.

“We have never really articulated and enforced our interests well enough in Germany, and we have to change that. The Americans are much more offensive. The aim is not to ensure that only one side benefits, but rather that we make good agreements for both sides. Trump would call it a deal.”

Merz cited the deliveries of US fighter jets for example: “Let’s make it concrete: We are forced to buy F-35 fighter jets from the Americans, but then they should be maintained by us and we also get the necessary works for this. That would be good business for both sides. I watch Trump and talk to a lot of people who know him very well. They tell me: You have to face him with an upright stance and clarity.”

Merz accused the federal authorities of mishandling the US election, from which Trump emerged because the clear winner. The federal authorities ought to have ready for his re-election. Instead, the Foreign Office unilaterally sided with Democrat Kamala Harris.

“Trump has a good memory. The current federal government will no longer be heard by the new administration. Scholz is now also a lame duck internationally,” stated the CDU chief.

No second votes for the FDP

In addition, the CDU chief additionally commented on the election ways within the upcoming federal election marketing campaign.

The FDP can’t rely on any assist from the Union, stated Merz. “There will be no two-vote help from us for the FDP. “We have nothing to give away, especially with the current electoral law,” the Union Chancellor candidate instructed “Stern”. If the Liberals had been solely at 4 p.c, from Merz’s standpoint it could be “four percent too much for the FDP and wasted votes” that had been lacking on the finish of the Union. “The FDP is our political competitor, like everyone else in the middle democratic spectrum,” emphasised Merz.

According to the CDU chief, the social gathering system is in flux. In purely mathematical phrases, 42 or 43 p.c of the vote could possibly be sufficient for an absolute majority of mandates. “But we are still a long way from that,” stated Merz.