From the environment in Berlin. There are three candidates to lead the German Christian Democrats, each with many different qualities, and one common flaw: She is not. Who presented himself yesterday at the conference – the first of its kind in digital form in CDU history, and the latest of his advisor – with usual seriousness, barely had a round neck of Baltic amber, matching the burgundy jacket.
Even nine minutes of speech was not enough for Angela Merkel to assess the last sixteen years: “Since 2005 (the year of her election) the world has changed a lot, and there is still Nokia, there were no smartphones and social networks, the media was not there, China was an economy in trouble, Germany has an unemployed record, there were no bonuses for nursery schools and parental leave. ”A short round of numbers, claiming not to be a personal success, but the result of joint action by the government and the Christian Democratic Union. Little” me “- except when he indicated the end of his term A lot of “us”: “The Christian Democratic Union has always assumed its responsibilities, and its strength has always been to put people at the center.”
After Angela Merkel, things can get worse. The majority of Germans are convinced of this, as they declare this in opinion polls – the most recent polls conducted by the Forsa Institute commissioned by the economic newspaper Handelsblatt – and speak of him with the same fatal resignation in the family, at work, on the street. “Merkel wants a major closure,” said the headline in the Bild newspaper yesterday. “But if Merkel says it, it means that it can be done, it must be done,” is the same answer that a taxi driver, a kindergarten teacher, and a store salesperson gave us, one of the groups hardest hit by the epidemic. Those who complain about the delay in consuming refreshments, the impossibility of returning to teaching (from December 3, no one goes to school, not even the young ones) and the delay in vaccinations. However, none of these criticisms are directed at the chancellor, who, since the beginning of the health emergency, reached the peak of popularity among her citizens.
It’s weird? No, it is rather Merkel’s 16-year secret: the ability to take politics to a higher path, able to bring people together even when they disagree about this or that. And the transition, in the stages of discontent, is firmly managed by those who have the access point in mind and therefore do not inhabit the intermediate stations. This was the last six months of Germany’s presidency: the recovery fund? Bring home. Brexit? The agreement is found. Trade agreement between the European Union and China? Occurred. Between the two sides there were the Hungarians and the Poles, the British who threatened the lack of a deal, and the Chinese who imposed the terms, but no one remembers them, the results remain.
The same thing happened with the exit from nuclear power, which Merkel wanted so forcefully in 2011 against her party. This is an established fact today, but how many people remember that this decision at that time won them the condemnation of the German economic establishment, the collapse of electoral support, and even the mockery of Günter Grass, who spoke of the danger of an “environmental dictatorship”? Angela Merkel returned to us yesterday: “Among the challenges awaiting us is to respond to the concerns of young people, and to find a balance between the economy and the environment.”
Among these critics was also Frederick Mears, one of the three candidates for the leadership of the CDU, who has always been opposed to the chancellor, and today he is an incarnation of the CDU that Merkel dismantled piece by piece, enlarging it to the left (sometimes dismantling the Social Democrats), making it a lesser party Reactive, more open, and yesterday he subtly reaffirmed: “The CDU remains a popular party in the center that overcomes conflicts and strives for community cohesion.” It wasn’t like this before and it is not certain that it will continue to be the case after that.
Merkel has kept East and West together, making herself recognized by the former – in style, some awkwardness, penchant for menus, details, and blueprints – and preventing the elusiveness of the latter – with the ability to work, study files, master techniques. And it was able to face internal rivalries with external projection: How many times the Germans had to retreat from her criticisms – she decided alone, she is a Machiavellian, little more than a condominium manager – in front of the covers of the Times, pictures of the international leaders in which she stood in the face of Putin and Erdogan, of Berlusconi and Sarkozy, to the most recent iconic images that made him an opponent Trump par excellence?
Armin Laschet is probably the candidate most in tune with Merkel’s ecumenical movement, plus he is liked, his constituents like himself, surround himself with smart people (including current Health Minister Jens Spahn, who could bestow the honor on running for chancellery if elected at the helm CDU Party). But it is fragile when it comes to economic policy and is criticized by many for the lack of clear ideas about the environment and the environment.
The skills that instead belong, along with an excellent knowledge of foreign policy, to the third contender, Norbert Röttgen, who rises in popular support but is certainly unknown to most people.
In the final section of her speech, Merkel confronted even her most interested commentators: “What did she mean when she was wishing for a team of contenders? In the end it will be a win, not a team, ”Zdf TV’s parliamentary analyst remarked at the end of the first day of the conference.“ Perhaps it was a call for unity – a colleague’s response – meaning that whoever does not win must be on the side of whoever wins. ”
It was discussed at length in the programs of the evening political dialogues without reaching a precise conclusion. The only plastic evidence is that three men, all strictly from the West, would not be sufficient to make a single woman from the East. Thisa.
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