Hannibal Hanschke / EPA
Germany’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz
Germany’s unexpected new chancellor Friedrich Merz has already reserved for himself a crucial role in history – whether or not to be the “new leader that the free world needs.”
Ten or fifteen years ago, Friedrich Merz It would have seemed an extremely unlikely candidate for the role of Salvador of the liberal democracy of Europe. And continues to look.
Mass decay of European policy It reached a critical phase, whose risks became clear with Trump’s ridiculous show and JD Vance to scold Zelenskyy in the oval room for not kneeling before the orange throne, says the executive editor of, Andrew O’Hehirin an analysis published this Sunday.
Elected just over a week ago, this was not the historic moment Merz expected, and it is not surely the one I wanted.
But for good and evil, it seems to be now the last stronghold of those waiting for a strong Europe. Or at least that you can survive the new times that get up.
In the late 2000s, Merz’s future seemed to belong to the past: It was the right -wing rival systematically defeated by Angela Merkel At CDU-Christian Democratic Union, the conservative party that has dominated German electoral policy since the fall of the Nazi regime.
Merz at the time left politics and accumulated millions in the private sector as a business lawyer, including a five -year period as chairman of the Council of Blackrock Administration Germanyan important branch of the largest active management company in the world.
Returned to CDU in 2018 as the Anti-Merkelpromising to spice up the usual agenda of the fiscal “austerity” party pro-deputy and free trade with a Firmly Pro-American Foreign Policy and a hint of extremely right anti-immigration policy.
Even in the middle of political chaos on the old continent provoked by the crisis of Syrian migrants and the rise of fascist parties in a country after another, Three attempts were needed for Merz to be elected Party leader after Merkel was withdrawn.
After “winning” German elections with a victory pupil – CDU ended First with 28.5% of the votesslightly better than its worst result ever, in 2021 – Merz will now be forced to preside over a strange Centro-right and center-left parties coalition.
The main objective of this coalition will be Avoid new advances in AFD, The Alternative Neonazi Party for Germany.
If we want to find a positive side in the German elections (which, let’s face it, is not easy) would be: although AFD ended in second place with 20.8% of the votes, duplicating its total of 2021, apparently the enthusiastic support of Elon Musk didn’t bring them any advantagesays O’Hehir.
On the international level, and just like Friday at the White House came to highlight, Merz will be the leader of the largest and most important member From the European Union, precisely as it has to “achieve independence from the US”-to use its own words at a post-election press conference.
On the one hand, Merz is a kind of black boxan unqualified leader who never held a position in the government and whose entire career seems maladjusted to this dangerous fork on the road of history.
On the other hand, seems to understand the magnitude of the current crisis And so far, he has not given any indication that he will look for an agreement with the German far right or his friends Maga in Washington.
Merz described attempts by Musk and other American intruders to imiseize themselves in German elections such as “no less dramatic and drastic and ultimately, outrageous, than Moscow’s interventions“And suggested that under Trump the US seemed” widely indifferent to the destination of Europe. “
This position marks a amazing reversal for the man described by German journalist Jörg Lau as the Germany’s most pro-American politician and “a longtime believer in the transatlantic security alliance” – that is, in the born, that Trump seems to be demolished.
Can also reflect a Feeling of injured pride and betrayal: Since Konrad Adenauer, in the 1950s, the CDU has always presented itself as a firm American ally, largely aligned with what we should call Missing Orthodoxy of the Republican Party Pretrump.
At the same time, Merz described the surprising rise of AFD as “the last Warning to the political parties of the Democratic Center”To reach a consensus on immigration policy, economic reforms, a European shared defense strategy and many other thorny issues.
Germany was under “a huge pressure on two sides“Merz said, presumably referring to the US and Russia, along with significant internal divisions: AFD dominated in the states with the most difficulties economic gives old east GermanyMerz’s party won in the west more prosperous.
In historical terms, Merz concluded, “Five minutes left for midnight to Europe ”. Too little time to save the old continent.
“Today, It has become clear that the free world needs a new leader“,” He said on Friday Kaja Kallas, Upper representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and security policy after the infamous meeting between Zelenskyy, Donald Trump and JD Vance.
So, this 69-year-old multimillionaire, acidic, son of the Catholic rural rural bourgeoisie, raised in the house that the mother’s family built in 1752, will reveal, against all probabilities, the statesman that the world needs Now, ideology and party affiliation apart?
Merz will be a Winston Churchill of our dayriding the tides of the story, ready to retreat Vladimir Putin on one side and Donald Trump on the other? – Asks the Salon executive editor.
The answer is simple: perhaps. No one can see the future and it is possible for the new German chancellor to surprise us. It is almost conceivable that Merz, now released from his previous pro-American opinions and in a forced marriage to his internal political opponents, reveals this kind of strength.
But unfortunately, it considers Andrew o’hehir, this hypothetical scenario requires a level of positive thinking of biblical proportions.
