The studio is similar to a hotel lounge, the table, chairs and carpet are in subtle gray, with the colors blue and copper dominating in the background. Caren Miosga started her ARD political talk of the same name on Sunday evening, which was visually different from that of her predecessor Anne Will.
Unlike Will, in her format there are spectators in the studio again. The conversation partners sit directly and closely opposite each other at the table. However, the fact that this would be accompanied by a more aggravated, uncomfortable style of talk turned out to be a false conclusion. Miosga moderated the hour-long discussion entitled “Merz is realigning the CDU – Will Germany’s future become conservative?” in an almost cheerful atmosphere.
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In general, viewers were surprised at how often the host and guests had to smile during the talk. Friedrich Merz, the chairman of the CDU and the main guest on the show, was not spared. It seemed as if Miosga wanted to use clever friendliness to establish a conversation on equal terms in order to elicit new answers from the person he was talking to.
At the beginning it was about the nationwide mass demonstrations against right-wing extremism and the AfD. The fact that the demonstrators want to preserve democracy is “very conservative in the literal sense,” Miosga said about the images. Merz smiled at this statement. It is an “encouraging sign of a vibrant democracy that such large numbers of people are taking to the streets,” he commented.
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Merz described the rise of the AfD as a dilemma for all democrats. It is a “challenge for everyone in the middle of our society,” he said, and we must “all do something about it so that it doesn’t grow any further.” However, many of the AfD voters can be brought back. So far, so expected.
Kindly please: The presenter Caren Miosga and her guest Friedrich Merz (CDU)
Source: picture alliance/Jörg Carstensen/Joerg Carstensen
But then Merz criticized the choice of words of his party colleague Hendrik Wüst, who had already described the AfD as a “Nazi party” several times. Regarding the NRW Prime Minister’s comments, Merz said: “The Nazi club won’t get us anywhere if we want to solve the problem.”
Suddenly Miosga pulls out a black desk lamp
In the first few minutes of the broadcast, Caren Miosga took a black desk lamp from under the table. “Is the light coming on for you, Mr. Merz?” she asked the already laughing party leader, who immediately identified the object – a lamp like the one that would have been in his father’s office. The iconic Kaiser Idell lamp was produced in the Hochsauerland district, where Merz was born.
The gimmick served Miosga as a bridge to a quote from Christian Lindner (FDP), who is said to have said: “The Hochsauerland is so black that you even have to turn on a lamp during the day.” Does that also apply to the new CDU program? “We are a conservative, a liberal and a Christian social party. We are the German Christian Democrats,” he said. “And we tried to write that down.”
“There is a catch,” says Merz about the tensions with Merkel
Miosga wanted to know whether Angela Merkel would also sign the new basic program. “I hope so,” said Merz and smiled. The former Chancellor was “very withdrawn.” He invited her to events several times, but she canceled many of them – “also for reasons of time,” as Merz emphasized. When asked about the differences with the former Chancellor, he said: “There is a catch,” and the relationship is “good.”
However, Miosga did not give up on the topic. She asked Merz about media reports that CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann should host a ceremony for Merkel’s 70th birthday in the Konrad Adenauer House. So far she has not accepted the invitation. “This is an offer to Angela Merkel (…) and if she wants, we will celebrate her birthday,” said Merz. And added somewhat succinctly: “We like to celebrate big birthdays,” which made Miosga laugh.
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CDU leader Merz avoided the question of the candidate for chancellor. It was his job to reorganize the party and build it as a strong opposition leader in the Bundestag. This will be completed in May, “and then we will go to the federal election.” Together with CSU boss Markus Söder, he wants to make a proposal for the Union, which will then be discussed in the CDU presidium. Friedrich Merz did not want to answer whether he himself had ambitions to become a candidate for chancellor, even after Miosga asked him several times.
The firewall for the AfD is in place
In the second half of the show, the table was literally expanded, as it was quickly enlarged with a centerpiece for the two additional guests. Together with the “Zeit” journalist Anne Hähnig and the sociologist Armin Nassehi from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Miosga and Merz discussed the AfD again. In forecasts for the three state elections in Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, the party, which is partly classified as right-wing extremist, is ahead.
Friedrich Merz emphasized that there would be no cooperation with the AfD. This firewall also applies to the Left in the CDU. In Thuringia, this could lead to a situation in which AfD lead candidate Björn Höcke will be elected Prime Minister after the election if the left, which is also strong there under Bodo Ramelow, and the CDU do not support a candidate together.
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Merz didn’t want to play out this scenario in its entirety: “We won’t go into the election campaign with what-if questions,” said the party leader, but “we want to prevent exactly this situation.”
“These are not affects, they are commitment,” says Merz
In another block, Merz was again confronted with a clip with sayings from the past few months, including the “little Pashas” and his statements about asylum seekers at the dentist. The CDU leader justified these scenes: “These are not emotions, they are commitment.” He’s concerned about what’s happening in Germany. He has never gone into a year with as many worries as this one. “The opposition leader in the Bundestag can sometimes escalate,” said Merz, which earned him criticism from sociologist Nassehi.
At the end of the broadcast, Merz made an appeal to the federal government. He is ready to work with the traffic light coalition, such as on the Germany Pact. The doors are open, but there has been no contact with Chancellor Olaf Scholz since the first “good discussions”.
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