Comment: Merz takes a chance on Merkel in the federal presidential election

There is currently a persistent narrative in Berlin's government district. Chancellor Friedrich Merz failed spectacularly to select the candidate for the office of Federal President. Almost everyone assumes that Ilse Aigner from the CSU will succeed Frank-Walter Steinmeier and that Merz has lost control of the selection.

That's half the truth. The whole truth is that for almost all chancellors it hardly mattered who moved into Bellevue Palace. The best example is Angela Merkel. She did not block Joachim Gauck, but a traffic light alliance made up of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP had put him on notice. Much too late, she brought the then President of the Federal Constitutional Court, Andreas Voßkuhle, into conversation, who politely waved her off.

Later, Merkel occasionally rolled her eyes at Gauck's statements. But he was a federal president as a federal president should be: independent and uncomfortable. Merkel then left the playing field completely to her then Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, who brought Frank-Walter Steinmeier into office. There were grumblings in the Union. But the Chancellor could live well with Steinmeier. Steinmeier will go down in history as a solid state notary. He made a great contribution to the country when he at least temporarily stabilized two government alliances.