Tag Archives: Friedrich Merz

German of the day: Schlagabtausch

February 10, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helections Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means an exchange of blows. Or a debate, if you prefer.

German Chancellor candidates clash on Trump, the far-right and NATO – In the first duel ahead of the February 23 election, Merz portrayed Scholz as a ditherer who had led Germany into economic crisis, while the Social Democrat presented himself as an experienced leader in command of the details…

Merz, far ahead in the polls and the favourite to become Germany’s next chancellor, expressed reluctance to raise taxes or borrow to reach the NATO alliance’s defence spending target of 2% of gross domestic product, far short of the 5% Trump is demanding.

You can sure say that again

February 6, 2025 By in Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , Leave a comment

But why should such a wonderful development be seen as something to warn about?

The US is ‘no longer the America we used to know,’ warns Germany’s Merz.

Merz’s warning comes amid a whirlwind of personnel and agency slashes both within the U.S. federal government and to foreign aid since Trump took office. Since assuming the presidency, Trump’s administration has sent mass emails offering “deferred resignations” to all federal workers, sacked multiple federal watchdogs, and gotten rid of dozens of prosecutors who were involved in criminal cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack.

The country has also frozen foreign aid and announced moves to put nearly all staff members at the U.S. Agency for International Development on paid leave.

Trump has also announced ambitions to take control of the Gaza Strip, of Greenland and of the Panama Canal, not ruling out the use of military force.

“Startlingly aggressive?”

February 3, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Home Cooking Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I’d say it’s more like “refreshingly different.”

Merz doubles down on gambit with German far right in combative speech – Prospective chancellor takes startlingly aggressive line against those protesting against gamble with AfD.

The German conservative opposition leader, Friedrich Merz, whose party is widely tipped to win this month’s general election, defended his hardline migration proposals after a wave of protests accused him of breaching the time-honoured “firewall” between the far right and centrists.

In an uncompromising speech to a party congress of his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Berlin, Merz said he was confident they would win the 23 February vote “with a very good result”, well ahead of the anti-immigration, anti-Islam Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), which has been consistently placing second in the polls.

Five days after passing a non-binding resolution on border policy with the votes of the far right – marking a historic breach of a taboo – Merz renewed a promise to bar any formal cooperation with the AfD in future.

“We will not work with the Alternative für Deutschland – not before [the election], not after – never,” he said to a lengthy standing ovation from delegates.

German of the day: Abweichler

January 31, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means dissenters.

As in dissenters within your own party. In this case, Germany’s CDU.

Germany’s parliament rejects radical migration plan – Greens and SPD earlier refused to support the Influx Limitation Act amid fierce criticism from Merkel over Merz’s cooperation with AfD…

The highly-controversial proposal, put forward by the CDU/CSU opposition party which leads in the polls, failed to secure a majority in the Bundestag, despite the backing of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland.

German of the day: Antrag

January 29, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means motion. As in proposal.

German immigration motion passes, breaking taboo on cooperation with AfD – Narrow passage of controversial CDU-CSU motion ends longstanding boycott on cooperating with far-right party.

The German parliament has narrowly passed a motion urging tough restrictions on immigration that was highly controversial because it was backed by the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party.

The motion was brought by the conservative opposition CDU-CSU and backed by, among others, the AfD, breaking a longstanding taboo on cooperation with the anti-immigration party.

German of the day: Mehrheit

January 27, 2025 By in Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means majority.

Despite Scholz’s criticism (German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, SPD): majority of SPD voters support Merz’s asylum ban, according to poll – Scholz had protested vehemently against the CDU’s push for a turnaround on migration. A survey now shows that 66% of Germans support Merz – as do the majority of SPD voters.

The climate really is changing…

January 15, 2025 By in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

In Germany. When it comes to climate change, I mean.

Endlich (finally).

Germany’s likely next chancellor vows to put economy before climate – Conservative chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz railed against the climate policies of the left-leaning parties he’ll likely have to govern with.

Germany’s economic policies have been “almost exclusively geared toward climate protection” during the reign of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Merz said during a campaign speech in the western industrial city of Bochum on Monday. “I want to say it clearly as I mean it: We will and we must change that.”

German of the day: Täter-Opfer-Umkehr

May 23, 2024 By in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means the reversal of perpetrator and victim.

As in: “Just seeking an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Hamas leader Sinwar at the same time is already an absurd reversal of perpetrator and victim.”

Would Germany arrest Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if the International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant?

Yes, the Scholz government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit on Wednesday. CDU leader Friedrich Merz is clearly critical of this.

When asked whether Germany would comply with a decision by the court, the Scholz spokesperson said only briefly: “Of course, we comply with the law.”

It’s about time somebody started asking these questions

December 12, 2023 By in Hard Facts, Helections, Home Cooking Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Although, it may already be too late, Germany.

Germany’s CDU questions Islam’s place in society – Muslims, migration, and nuclear energy all get fresh focus in a new CDU manifesto. The draft has already drawn widespread criticism.

The new color scheme a few months back was only a cosmetic step. Now, Germany’s center-right Christian Democrats are going under the hood. For the first time since 2007, the party that ruled Germany for most of the republic’s young history has revamped its party program.

Its leaders hope this is their ticket to returning to power, which they lost in 2021. In establishing what the CDU now stands for, the draft reflects ideological differences at the very top. Chairman Friedrich Merz needed three attempts to become party leader, rebuffed by a skeptical Angela Merkel when she was still chancellor and a powerful force in the party. With her gone and Merz in charge since early last year, he is seeking a different path…

Gone are the days of recognizing that “Islam now belongs to Germany, too” as the CDU’s Christian Wulff said when he served as Germany’s president during an early Merkel government. The new draft manifesto adds a key caveat: Muslims belong to Germany so long as they “share our values.”

German Of The Day: Groß

November 27, 2020 By in Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Humor, Hypochondria, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

We spell it gross. That means big. Not gross. You know, our gross, as in “a gross exaggeration?”

Merz

That’s what’s calling Friedrich Merz “Germany’s Donald Trump” certainly is. A “hardline conservative” in Germany is a liberal light in US-Amerika.

But having said that, when I read from our friends over at Politico about “A combative old white man who speaks of gays and pedophiles in the same breath, dismisses gender debates as a waste of time and who can’t stand Angela Merkel could hardly be more out of step with the zeitgeist,” I ask myself, what’s not to like about this guy?