The migration and rise of the extreme right were the hottest songs of the televised face of the German chancellor and social democratic candidate, Olaf Scholz, and of his conservative and favorite rival of the surveys, Friedrich Merz, who also addressed the poor state of The German economy.
Two weeks after the elections, Olaf Scholz, who still hopes to be able to overcome the third place in which the polls place it, had to position himself in the debate transmitted by the public chains ZDF and ard to the defensive in terms of migration, that Democristian Merz has become the main theme of the campaign. “The returns that we could legally make, what you propose contradicts European law and from my point of view the German Constitution,” Scholz told Merz, who advocates not only rejecting the irregular ones, but also applicants asylum on German terrestrial borders.
The chancellor warned of the consequences that European law could fail to breach, particularly in the final stretch before the migration and asylum pact can be implemented. “Why being so dumb?” He asked. The democratian leader soft the figures of arrivals of irregular immigrants to Germany and resorted to the rugged details of an attack with a knife perpetrated by an Afghan last month to argue that the measures taken by the government of Social Democrats and Verdes were insufficient. “You do not live in this world,” he told Scholz, accusing him of not being aware of the seriousness of the problems allegedly caused by immigration.
When the subject of the alternative ultra -rightist for Germany (AFD) was addressed, second in the surveys with 20 %, it was Merz who tried to defend himself from the accusation that he had “broken his word” and “broken a taboo” when accepting when accepting The votes of that party to boost path parliamentary initiatives, something that in November said it would never do. “We went up in the surveys. It could not have been so wrong,” said the conservative leader, who reiterated that after the elections he will not cooperate with AFD under any circumstances and rather negotiate with the social democrats and the green migratory and economic.
Scholz, on the contrary, questioned the reliability of his rival and warned that no one can be sure that he maintains the sanitary cord against the ultra -right, while the social democrats will not evade the particular responsibility that Germany has to prevent the right Populist arrives at the government.
Dispute over deindustrialization
The two rivals also discussed whether Germany, which is in their third year of recession, suffers a “deindustrialization”, with Merz underlining the three million unemployed and the wave of insolvencies, both trends increasing. “Mr. Chancellor, we have never seen anything the same in the history of our country. Industrial companies go abroad for dozens, take their money out and the problem is that it has gone and does not return,” he said.
Scholz said instead that Germany is still in the lead among industrialized countries and with an increasing figure of people with employment, although he admitted that the country faces “challenges” due to the situation of the global economy and war in Ukraine. The social democrat repeated his proposal to boost growth with a multi -million dollar investment fund and a 10 % fiscal bonus for those who invest in the industry, which he wants to finance assuming more debt.
On the contrary, Merz opposed this and said that he can even finance the tax drops he projects, since his government will return to the economy to the growth path, which will increase tax collection.
Ukraine, Gaza and Greenland
Regarding commercial policy, Scholz said that the European Union can react “in an hour” to eventual US tariffs against the twenty -seven. “We are prepared. Yes, it is the answer with the greatest diplomatic caution and we can act in an hour as a European Union,” he said.
In foreign policy, the two rivals promised to maintain support for Ukraine, although they rejected their entry into NATO, and underlined the importance of finally undertaking peace, which should not occur in any case “without counting on the Ukrainians ” While Scholz proposed that German expense in defense be maintained at 2 % of GDP for the next two years, Merz said it should be “clearly above” that medium -term figure.
The two agreed to express their concern for the drift that the US administration can take under the mandate of Donald Trump and alluded to their statements about a hypothetical acquisition of Greenland, emphasizing both that the key before the current uncertainty is in the European unit. “I have developed a proposal that we are currently working together with other NATO countries to increase the presence of the Atlantic Alliance in Greenland,” Scholz said in this regard.
According to the polls, two weeks after the elections, conservatives would obtain 30 %of the votes, followed by ultra-right (20 %), social democrats (15-16 %), green (13-15 %) and left (6 %), while the liberals and the populist left would stay out of Parliament.
