tagesthemen: Mr. Merz, when was the moment for you when it became clear to you personally: 'Ilse Aigner is the best'.
Friedrich Merz: This has developed over the last few weeks. I have had a large number of discussions and I have to say I am very satisfied with the results. The great support that it received today over the course of the day - not only from the CDU - but also from the SPD and the Greens, showed: Yes, it is a good decision.
tagesthemen: Why is she more suitable than all the women who could have been considered from the CDU?
Merz: We have a large number of women in the Union who are eligible for this office. We also talked to each other for a long time, and we were all interested in finding someone who would be able to hold the country together across party lines. Who is also able to promote our democracy. Who is able to fill up ditches and give the country a bit of confidence.
And it was then important to find someone who already had great recognition in the country across party lines and who also had experience in state politics, federal politics, European politics and from a representative office. And the approval that we saw for them this morning in the Federal Executive Board, and previously in the CDU Presidium, confirms to us all that this decision is correct.
“Can perform a function that is additionally good for the country”
tagesthemen: You praised her heart, her charm, her charisma - is Ilse Aigner filling a gap that urgently needs to be filled in top politics because there is too little of this warmth in your federal government?
Merz: We have different tasks. If you are in active politics today, if you have to make decisions, then of course you will attract criticism. A head of state, and especially when we get the first female federal president with Ilse Aigner next year, will be above the parties and will also be above the battle of political opinion in everyday life. It can perform a function that is additionally good for the country. In addition to the necessary dispute over the matter that we have to endure in a democracy.
But if someone, as head of state, stands above the party disputes and repeatedly calls for people to stand together, then I think that is a good addition.
That is exactly the idea that the mothers and fathers of the Basic Law had when they installed a chancellor who had to be elected by the Bundestag. And a federal president - and soon a female federal president - who is elected by a body that meets only for this purpose and who stands above the parties and day-to-day politics.
“She wants to stand for solidarity”
daily topics: After the next federal election - depending on the results - it will also require a lot of political toughness when it comes to forming a government. Although she has no official role, she has a great influence. Does Ms. Aigner have the kind of harshness that may then be necessary?
Merz: I think so. She has now proven in many tasks that she can do that. I just want to take a look at her time as Federal Minister of Agriculture. Anyone who can move on the Brussels stage - and she could - has to have a lot of toughness and also the ability to take part, to participate and to be active.
She was the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs. She also had a very successful term there. And she was President of the Bavarian State Parliament for almost eight years and had to deal with representatives there who had everything in mind except the success of our democracy. So, she can do it.
tagesthemen: She wants to stand for cohesion. The big divide in our society is between the people who vote for the governing parties and those who rely on the AfD, BSW and the Left. Tomorrow you will go with her to the parliamentary groups in the Bundestag. But they don't go to the left or to the AfD. How is a new cohesion supposed to emerge?
Merz: First of all, she is the candidate of the Union - since this morning it has also been formally decided that she will be the candidate of the SPD. This makes her the candidate of the current government coalition in Berlin. The Greens could join tomorrow.
There were malicious and derogatory comments from the left and the AfD before they even invited her. At the end of the day she has to decide for herself whether she wants to work together or not. You can extend a hand, but that has to be reciprocated from the other side. Ilse Aigner will decide wisely.
“The process went completely smoothly and harmoniously”
tagesthemen: Ilse Aigner said with a bit of a wink that you, as Chancellor, made things exciting for her too. You could tell it wasn't easy for her, waiting for months. The Green party leader Haßelmann called it unworthy. Is it in keeping with the dignity of the office that a candidate has to wait almost 200 days until she finds out?
Merz: Everyone else who had hopes was also waiting for it. We had arranged a trial. Now take a look in the German history books to see what disputes we have experienced over the succession to the office of Federal President - and I have experienced some of them myself.
This process was completely trouble-free and so harmonious. Of course with names that are mentioned in public - but that's normal. We are not here in the central committee of a communist party that decides everything behind closed doors, but we are in an open democracy, and names are named, suggestions are made and decisions are made. And that's exactly what we did today.
“I would do it again if I did it again”
tagesthemen: This was also to your detriment. You are now seen as someone who hesitates. Who wanted to decide, but in the end had to take a decision from Markus Söder. This is the effect and presentation. What do you take away from this personality?
Merz: Well, that's the depiction. But of course it doesn't affect the process. We in the CDU advised carefully. There have also been some names from the CDU, and we have agreed together to go down this path now.
And that's why when I'm given the choice of having a lean, elegant, pleasing process and ending up with a controversial result. Or a process that is criticized and in the end there is a result that is supported by large parts of the population of the political parties - then I will clearly and without doubt choose the second path. And I would do it the same way again if I did it again.
Merz does not see Germany in a spectator role in Ukraine negotiations
tagesthemen: Another big event this week is the upcoming talks between Ukraine, Russia and the USA in Abu Dhabi. US President Trump conveys: A lot has been clarified in advance and an important decision may be pending. The Europeans almost begged, or at least fought hard, to have a seat at the table. This is now apparently possible. What can you do, what can Europe do to get out of this spectator role?
Merz: We are not in a spectator role, but rather we actively participate in this process. And I'm now hearing sounds from Russia that clearly indicate that the Russian government also assumes that things won't work without the Europeans. The three representatives of the so-called E3 group - France, Great Britain, Germany - are our foreign policy advisors in Abu Dhabi.
I spoke to President Trump on the phone last week. We coordinate closely. Even he now says: 'You Europeans must take part in this process'. We are doing that. It now depends very much on the order of the issues and the most important thing is that a ceasefire is agreed. And that lies solely in Russian hands.
But we are involved in the process and in the end it will not work without or even against the Europeans. Certainly not against Ukraine and not without Ukraine.
The week after next I invited the “Coalition of the Willing” here to Berlin again. Many heads of state and government will accept my invitation. So, there can be no question of us just having to ask for it; we are part of the process and we are helping to shape it.
The interview was conducted by Jörg Schönenborn for tagesthemen. The language has been smoothed out in some places for the written version.
