Ein Zitat von Helmut Kohl über das Ergebnis als Maßstab wird in der CDU aktuell diskutiert, während Friedrich Merz nach 16 Monaten als Kanzler mangels Alternativen amtiert und die Unionsfraktion ein Ziel ausgibt, das darauf abzielt, nicht erneut von der SPD über den Tisch gezogen zu wirken.
AI-generated summary
Helmut Kohl war 16 Jahre Bundeskanzler und gilt als Pragmatiker der Macht. Friedrich Merz amtiert derzeit als Bundeskanzler, nachdem er nach 16 Monaten aufgrund fehlender Alternativen im Amt bleibt.
Von Helmut Kohl, dem großen Pragmatiker der Macht, ist ein Satz überliefert, der in der CDU gerade in Vergessenheit gerät: »Entscheidend ist, was hinten rauskommt.«
Kohls Kanzlerschaft dauerte 16 Jahre, sein Erbverwalter Friedrich Merz hingegen regiert schon nach 16 Monaten nur noch als Kanzler mangels Alternativen. Und in der Unionsfraktion haben sie ein Ziel ausgegeben, das nicht so recht zum alten Selbstverständnis als pragmatische Machtmaschine passen will: Entscheidend ist, dass es nicht schon wieder so aussieht, als habe uns die SPD über den Tisch gezogen.

In Bremen, the three-day celebrations for German Unity Day began with the opening of the citizens' festival. Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Bundestag President Julia Klöckner and other politicians took part in the market square in front of the historic town hall. Klöckner emphasized that unity does not mean equality and that differences must be tolerated. More than 400,000 visitors are expected by Sunday.
Before the celebration of German Unity Day, hundreds gathered in Bremen city center at a demonstration registered by the 'Basic Group Antifascism Bremen' under the title 'No Peace with the Nation!'. According to a police spokesman, around 700 people took part, while the organizers expected around 1,000. The demonstration was accompanied by a large police presence and at times a helicopter through the city center and Neustadt. Individual Bengalos and firecrackers were lit, but there were no injuries. The organizers directed the demonstration against nationalism, militarization, anti-feminism and social cuts. In advance there were threats from the left-wing extremist scene, whereupon the police threatened to take consistent action in the event of disruptions or crimes.
Sören Pellmann, chairman of the left-wing faction in the Bundestag, has joined the controversial organization “Red Help”, while the SPD and the Greens are negotiating a possible coalition with the left in Berlin. This move underscores the shift within the left from the search for acceptance to self-assurance in the political center.
Marine Le Pen threatened Mediapart journalists with a Kevlar suit after the investigative media published anti-Semitic statements by Jordan Bardella from 2013 to 2015. Bardella is said to have written in private forums that Jews should dominate and steal from other peoples.

The black-red coalition is facing financial and substantive conflicts: the dispute over the sugar tax and the care reform shows the budget's limited scope, while the deficit in the first half of the year is 98.8 billion euros. Federal President Steinmeier is said to have mediated, but fundamental questions about relief and financing remain open.
Minister of State for Culture Wolfram Weimer has given details for the first time about the exclusion of three bookstores from the German Bookstore Prize. A spokesman rejected the accusation that Weimer had ignored a recommendation from the department.