Germany’s conservatives choose the country’s probable next leader
Friedrich Merz is in pole position to take over as chancellor at the election in 2025
“FRIEDRICH MERZ is doing it, and I’m fine with that.” This brief statement by Markus Söder, the head of Bavaria’s governing Christian Social Union (CSU), was enough to confirm what had long been clear in German political circles: that Mr Merz, leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the CSU’s larger sibling, would be the parties’ joint candidate at next year’s federal election. Mr Merz will thus lead the opposition conservatives’ bid to unseat Olaf Scholz, the Social Democratic (SPD) chancellor.
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This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The old pretender”
Europe September 21st 2024
- Near-shoring is turning eastern Europe into the new China
- Germany’s conservatives choose the country’s probable next leader
- Ukraine is a booming market for Balkan arms makers
- Can a new crew of European commissioners revive the continent?
- Aland is lovely, weapon-free and too close to Russia
- Europe is bidding a steady farewell to passport-free travel
From the September 21st 2024 edition
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Why Russia is trying to seize a vital Ukrainian coal mine
Without it, the country’s remaining steel industry will be crippled
The search for Ukraine’s missing soldiers and sailors
The families of missing loved ones are trying to find them, alive or dead
Europe could become Trump’s geopolitical roadkill
A second dose of MAGA will put the EU in a pickle
Russia continues to advance in eastern Ukraine
But it is encountering growing problems
Turkey’s long hard struggle with inflation
High interest rates are starting to do the trick
Delays on Italy’s spruced-up trains have got worse
Matteo Salvini is making feeble excuses