CDU top politicians strengthen Chancellor Friedrich Merz after election defeat

CDU politicians in leadership positions have strengthened Chancellor Friedrich Merz in office. "Our country doesn't need personnel discussions now, but rather decisive action and courageous reforms," ​​said Hesse's Prime Minister Boris Rhein. The trigger for the latest debate in the media and parts of the Union was the CDU's heavy defeat in the election in Saxony-Anhalt.

The chairwoman of the SME Union, Gitta Connemann, also criticized the discussion about the Chancellor. "Reforms are never easy," she said. Reform chancellors don't have it "particularly easy." Merz knows the challenges and still stays the course.

“No time for internal show debates”

CDU deputy leader Silvia Breher also expressed her dissatisfaction with the ongoing discussion. "We don't have time for internal show debates," she said. “The situation in the country will not change by randomly exchanging heads.” The federal government is facing gigantic tasks and people rightly expect that the announced reforms will come. “We have to concentrate all our efforts on this instead of wasting valuable energy in tiring personnel discussions.”

Support for Merz also came from election campaigns in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, where elections will be held next Sunday. “The personnel discussions do not solve any problems,” said CDU top candidate Daniel Peters. "Anyone who fuels such debates must also ask themselves which scenario they are actually planning."

Criticism from the CDU

Federal Health Minister Karin Prien justified Merz's low approval ratings with the Chancellor's lack of compassion for people's concerns. »I think that the impression was created that the Chancellor, but also we as a Union, did not have the necessary empathy for many people. And that has to change,” she said. Your impression is that the Chancellor understood that.