Publicist Michel Friedman says Merz is unfit to be chancellor

Publicist Michel Friedman says Friedrich Merz is not suited to serve as Germany’s chancellor, arguing that he does not meet the demands of the job.

“I don’t think this man matches the job description of a chancellor,” the 70-year-old told Spiegel. Friedman said politicians could learn to perform their roles, including understanding the power of the administration and developing the empathy needed to reach “real compromises.”

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I don’t think this man matches the job description of a chancellor.

He said a chancellor must know where his limits lie and gradually learn to expand them. Those requirements, he argued, did not apply to Merz. Friedman said he would not accuse Merz of having no empathy, but added that he would not regard the chancellor as a model from whom he could learn much about empathy.

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But I would not say he is a role model from whom I can still learn a great deal about empathy.

Friedman also said the CDU deserved to be punished under Merz, while warning that this should not lead voters to support “a racist, destructive party.” He criticized SPD leaders Lars Klingbeil and Bärbel Bas, saying he no longer heard anything from them. At the same time, he said he was glad Merz, despite being rough and often making political missteps, at least spoke with him.

Friedman left the CDU in early 2025 after the party’s parliamentary group won a majority on a migration policy motion together with the AfD. He said democratic parties should have no contact with a party that sought to destroy democracy. Friedman joined the CDU in 1983 and served on its federal executive board from 1994 to 1996.

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That must not lead people to say, because they are so bad, I will simply vote for a racist, destructive party.