Merkel protege seeks to stamp authority

CDU aims to reassert itself in political centre ground

LEIPZIG, Germany, Nov 23, (Agencies): Chancellor Angela Merkel’s would-be successor, Annegret KrampKarrenbauer, urged delegates from her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to back her vision for Germany at their party congress on Friday or else “let’s end it here and now”.

CDU delegates gave her an immediate standing ovation and Friedrich Merz, Kramp-Karrenbauer’s chief rival for the party chair last year, pledged her his loyalty – drawing a line under months of leadership speculation, for now.

Kramp-Karrenbauer, 57, has made several gaffes since taking over as CDU leader last December that have dented her popularity and raised questions about her suitability to be the party’s candidate for chancellor when Merkel leaves office.

“If you are of the view that the Germany I want is not the Germany you imagine, if you are of the view that the way I want to go with you is not the way you think is the right one, then let’s speak today and let’s end it today, here, now,” Kramp-Karrenbauer said to gasps from delegates.

“But, dear friends, if you want this Germany, if you want to take this path together ... then let’s roll up our sleeves here and now and make a start,” she added, before the seven-minute ovation.

Meeting under the banner “Germany’s strong middle”, the CDU is aiming to reassert itself in the political centre ground, where the Greens have surged.

Merkel, 65, has been in power since 2005 and said she will not seek re-election at the next national election, due in 2021. The CDU is trying to boost its image and appeal to hold its position as the leading governing party after she goes.

In her speech, Kramp-Karrenbauer painted a grim scenario of economic decline for Germany in which its companies cease to register patents in 10 years’ time, and young people leave the country complaining of a lack of creativity. “That could happen, but it doesn’t have to happen,” she said, urging the CDU to back a vision for the future that delivers prosperity “not despite digitalisation but with digitalisation”.

On Kramp-Karrenbauer’s watch, the CDU suffered losses in a May election to the European Parliament and setbacks in regional elections. She described this as “painful” in a speech lasting close to 1-1/2 hours. “It isn’t and it hasn’t been an easy year,” she said.

An INSA poll on Monday put support for the CDU at 25%, way down from the 32.9% the party won in the 2017 federal election.

Merz has been circling and last month criticised the government’s record as “abysmal”.

But speaking shortly after KrampKarrenbauer addressed the conference, he threw his weight behind her and took a swipe at the Social Democratic Party (SPD), junior partners in Merkel’s awkward ‘grand coalition’.

“The Social Democrats are structurally disloyal. We are loyal – to our chairwoman, and to the government,” Merz told delegates.

Urged

The governor of a northern German state has urged citizens to join a rally against a far-right protest in Hannover.

Lower Saxony’s Stephan Weil asked people to rally against a protest Saturday by the far-right NPD party, which is marching to intimidate journalists who have reported critically about the nationalist party.

Hannover police had tried to ban the NPD from protesting, but a court decided late Friday that the far-right protest can go ahead. Some 100 far-right protesters are expected Saturday while about 2,000 counter-demonstrators said they’d come to rally for press freedom and show their support for the embattled journalists.

The NPD had advertised their march by posting a picture online of a broadcast journalist who has done in-depth reporting about the far-right scene in Germany.

In other news, Germany sought Wednesday to ease French worries about NATO by offering to set up a group of experts to examine the alliance’s security challenges after President Emmanuel Macron lamented the

“brain death” of the military organization.

Macron’s public criticism of NATO – notably, a perceived lack of US leadership, concerns about an unpredictable Turkey since it invaded northern Syria without warning its allies, and the need for Europe to take on more security responsibilities – has shaken the alliance.

At a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Germany’s Heiko Maas said that the 29-nation trans-Atlantic alliance is “Europe’s life insurance and we want it to remain so.” He said the aim should be to prevent “break-away tendencies” within NATO.

To ensure that doesn’t happen, Maas told reporters, the “political arm” of NATO must be strengthened.

“We should get advice from experts, from people who understand these issues,” he said.

Maas declined to elaborate or comment on who might be part of this expert commission, saying he was more interested in how Germany’s partners react to the proposal. France’s response to the offer should indicate whether NATO’s internal differences can quickly be papered over.

Macron’s choice of words was rejected as “drastic” by German Chancellor Angela Merkel the day after they were published in The Economist magazine. Senior US and European officials have since piled on, leaving France feeling isolated for speaking out.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg heads to Paris next week for talks with Macron, tentatively scheduled for Nov 28. On the eve of the Brussels meeting, Stoltenberg said the best way to resolve differences “is to sit down and to discuss them and to fully understand the messages and the motivations.”

Asked Wednesday why Macron’s stance has angered allies or might hurt NATO, Stoltenberg said, without mentioning France, that “there is no way to deny that there are disagreements on issues like trade, like climate change, the Iran nuclear deal and also simply on how to deal with the situation in northeast Syria.”