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🇩🇪 Germany /Elections & Politics

Berlin CDU Candidate Says Merz Made a Mistake and Should Apologize

From Die Zeit · () German

Translated from German and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Named sources Context piece
  • Stefan Evers said Chancellor Friedrich Merz made a mistake by reversing his position on new borrowing and should acknowledge it.
  • Evers said Merz’s change of course damaged public trust after the election campaign.
  • Merz had firmly rejected easing Germany’s debt brake before the federal election, then moved in the opposite direction with support from the Social Democrats and Greens.

Stefan Evers, the CDU’s lead candidate for Berlin’s House of Representatives election, has advised Chancellor Friedrich Merz to apologize for reversing course on government borrowing.

People make mistakes. In my view, this was one. But there are no unforgivable mistakes of this kind, you simply have to stand by them.

· Stefan EversEvers described Merz’s reversal on borrowing policy and urged him to acknowledge it.

“People make mistakes. In my view, this was one. But there are no unforgivable mistakes of this kind, you simply have to stand by them,” Evers said on the NTV-Salon podcast. He added that Merz needed to make clear that the decision “should not have happened” and work to rebuild trust.

You have to make clear that this should not have happened and work to restore trust.

· Stefan EversEvers said Merz should apologize and address the damage to public confidence.

Evers said the debate over Germany’s debt brake and special funds had become “a major problem from the outset” for Merz. He called it an objective problem to campaign on a fundamental position before an election and then turn it into “the literal opposite” shortly afterward.

It is an objective problem when you take a fundamental position before an election and shortly afterward it turns into the literal opposite.

· Stefan EversEvers criticized Merz’s pre-election stance and subsequent policy change.

As the CDU/CSU’s lead candidate, Merz had vehemently ruled out relaxing the debt brake until election day. He then began moving toward the opposite policy with votes from the SPD and Greens. “That has shaken some things, and trust has suffered greatly,” Evers said. Restoring it, he added, would not be easy but had to succeed.

That has shaken some things, and trust has suffered greatly.

· Stefan EversEvers assessed the political impact of Merz’s reversal.
About this summary

Originally published by Die Zeit in German. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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