Berlin.
The traffic light parties are striving for harmonious work. But is that even possible? WAZ editor-in-chief Andreas Tyrock says no.
Is former head of government Ulrich Wilhelm right when he doesn’t expect the federal government to Olaf Scholz experienced the end of the legislative period? “In any case, after a year and a half, it becomes clear that the three partners don’t go so well together,” says Andreas Tyrock, editor-in-chief of the WAZ. In a Forsa survey commissioned by “WAZ”, 84 percent of those surveyed stated that the coalition continue bickering and will not come to a harmonious employment relationship by the end of the legislative period.
At the same time, the three partners have an interest in the traffic light coalition being a success, according to Tyrock, nobody wants to be part of one Government be who failed. “The FDP doesn’t want to fail, the Greens mustn’t fail and Olaf Scholz and the SPD will try everything to keep the government together in order not to have to go to new elections prematurely.” The biggest tasks lie ahead of Christian Lindner and the FDPwho would have to see “how they get off the losing track and set their own issues again.” Linder has at least managed to get Scholz on his side, also because the Chancellor “is of the FDP type and closer to its chairman than him greens“.
Scholz update: “Hendrik Wüst is someone you like to underestimate”
So while the governing parties are arguing, you can observe the counter-model in North Rhine-Westphalia. reigns there Black green with a man at the top whom Olaf Scholz is said to have described as a “Prime Minister actor” and who could pose a threat to him in the next federal election. “Hendrik Wüst is someone you tend to underestimate, which is always a risk in politics,” says Tyrock. “He managed the generation change in the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia, he leads the government with the Greens relatively quietly and he is an expert in avoiding mistakes.”
But Wüst will try everything to “keep chancellor ambitions at bay for as long as possible: he would never come out of the cover.” But of course he had to prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia to become chancellor candidate one day. “Hendrik Wüst will never say that he is not going to Berlin. That was one of the major political mistakes made by the former SPD Prime Minister Hannelore Kraft.” She ruled out moving to Berlin and was then accused of “self-dwarfing”.
The first access to the chancellor candidacy CDU but have Friedrich Merz: “Hendrik Wüst will not send a declaration of war from his own state association in the direction of the party chairman.” He will wait and see how Friedrich Merz’s chances on that Federal Chancellery are as the election approaches. “He is a politician who thinks very strategically and is also well connected,” says Tyrock. “Hendrik Wüst will come, but he has no time pressure, doesn’t have to push forward.” And unlike Daniel Günther, Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister and the second CDU candidate for chancellor, he would also be well received by the conservatives in the party.
According to Tyrock, it is certain that the CDU’s candidate for Chancellor in 2025 would come from North Rhine-Westphalia. Friedrich Merz With his clear, dashing manner, he serves the image that the party used to have and that was also longed for in the conservative party circles after the Merkel period: “But he weakens the reputation of women and people with a migration background. It will be crucial whether he can reach these target groups, he’s already trying to be a little more relaxed.”
How is Olaf Scholz doing as Chancellor? What is going on behind the scenes of the traffic light government, how are the Greens getting along with the Liberals and vice versa? And why do the government and its boss communicate the way they communicate? These are a few of the questions that we are investigating in our “The Scholz Update” series. Once a week, Abendblatt editor-in-chief Lars Haider talks to politicians, journalists and other experts about the current political situation. You can listen to all of the talks in full as a podcast.
The Scholz Podcast – all episodes
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