Friedrich Merz tells Putin: “We are firmly determined to defend ourselves”

Friedrich Merz says Germany’s Christian Democratic Union needs more than individual policies to reverse falling poll ratings. It needs a new story about what the country is trying to achieve.

Speaking at a campaign event, the CDU leader said the party should hold a fundamental debate after the state elections in September. “I admit that, given the poll results and the election results we have to fear, what we have done so far has not been enough,” Merz said.

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I admit that, given the poll results and the election results we have to fear, what we have done so far has not been enough.

He argued that the CDU’s positions on internal and external security, economic policy and social policy were fundamentally right. What was missing, he said, was the overarching narrative, a clear heading for the party’s shared work.

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Prosperity for all generations.

Merz pointed to Ludwig Erhard’s 1957 book “Prosperity for All” as an example of a political narrative that helped define the economic outlook of the 1950s. He suggested adapting it for the present as “prosperity for all generations,” with the aim of giving future generations the chance to live in freedom, peace and prosperity, alongside a high level of social justice.

After a failed drone attack on Leipzig Airport, Merz also addressed what he called Germany’s hybrid threat environment. “Anyone who attacks us must know: We are firmly determined to defend our rule of law, our democracy, our open society and the integrity of our territory,” he said. He urged Russia to stop its “hybrid warfare” against Germany.

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Anyone who attacks us must know: We are firmly determined to defend our rule of law, our democracy, our open society and the integrity of our territory.

Merz welcomed a preliminary agreement on a far-reaching restructuring of Volkswagen, describing the company as an example of the serious crisis facing Germany’s and Europe’s automobile industry. “Germany must remain an industrial country!” he said.

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Germany must remain an industrial country!