Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) disembarked early on Tuesday evening from the steamer on which his comrades had invited people to the annual asparagus cruise across Lake Tegel in Berlin. Just in time for him to stop by for a beer at the “NRW Fest 2024” in the capital’s representation of the CDU-governed state. SPD co-leader Saskia Esken came unexpectedly, as did several other Social Democrats. One person, however, was missing from the CDU’s most important summer party in Berlin: party leader Friedrich Merz.
The following questions were immediately raised: Is there another crisis between Merz and NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst? Is the K question on the table again? The answer to the latter assumption: a clear no. Merz from Sauerland and Wüst from Münsterland are not so unwise as to show disagreement just before the European elections. Merz had simply agreed to attend the European Economic Conference of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” a long time ago.
But this week there was a clash elsewhere in the Union, in an unusual place: in the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, which usually appears united. After the election defeat in 2021, Merz and CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt transformed it from a ruffled troop into a powerful opposition. It was there, in the meeting of the parliamentary group executive on Monday afternoon, that Merz’s anger unexpectedly and violently erupted against one of his most important colleagues: against the foreign policy expert Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU).
When the outburst was over, which the other board members had mostly watched without comment or speechlessness, some in the group asked themselves, despite understanding Merz’s anger: Is this how you treat a member of parliament, especially one of the most renowned in the parliamentary group? “I have never experienced such an outburst in the parliamentary group under Merz,” one board member told WELT.
But for the party leader, it is about more than just a contentious technical issue. It is about the party’s external image, its unity in the important election year of 2024 and the tactics in the election campaigns. And about what the party leader and his general secretary Carsten Linnemann describe as one of the “core brands” of the CDU.
In interviews, the Bundeswehr expert and retired colonel Kiesewetter had called for a budget emergency to be declared because of the war in Ukraine. This also meant that the debt brake should be suspended in order to be able to provide more help to the country attacked by Russia. He also said he was open to a special fund to better equip the Bundeswehr. Up to 300 billion euros were conceivable, explained the 60-year-old Bundestag member from Lake Constance.
At the parliamentary group executive committee meeting, party leader Merz attacked the foreign affairs expert for this. Merz reprimanded Kiesewetter, saying he did not want any more uncoordinated solo actions. And he certainly did not want a debate about the debt brake. He called for unity shortly before a series of important elections. After Kiesewetter’s public appeals to support Ukraine even more than before, he, the party leader, received angry calls from CDU representatives in the east – especially from Saxony, where state elections are taking place in September. Solidarity with Ukraine is not nearly as strong there as in the rest of Germany.
With his interviews, Kiesewetter presented Russian President Vladimir Putin with “a shaky Union,” Merz ranted. Kiesewetter briefly countered, but according to participants, was unable to convince the party leader.
The process is interesting because, contrary to what many people in the public think, Merz acts very controlled in party committees. He is often described as a moderator and mediator in the party and parliamentary group. But now nerves are on edge. The issue of the debt brake and special funds is a controversial one.
Hardly a week goes by in which the SPD and the Greens do not call for a relaxation of the debt brake. Without the austerity requirement enshrined in the Basic Law, the traffic light coalition would be rid of its massive budget problem, the Chancellor and his cabinet would be able to manage the crisis, implement all the projects agreed in the coalition agreement and shower the population with gracious benefits in the year of the 2025 federal election.
But the coalition partner FDP, with party leader and finance minister Christian Lindner at the helm, insists on sound economic management, a balanced budget and the debt brake. And Merz is driving the red-green coalition forward with the accusation of dishonest budgeting and wanting to spend billions at the expense of future generations. Merz does not want to let this lever slip from his hands, not least because the issue of budgetary discipline is important to the core electorate. The budget dispute between the traffic light coalition is just what the CDU and CSU are looking for – in the end, the red-green-yellow coalition could even collapse because of it, or so they calculate.
Second point: “We must under no circumstances allow Lindner and his FDP to present themselves publicly as the last guardians of the debt brake and solid finances. This would strengthen the Liberals at our expense in the upcoming elections,” says a member of the Union parliamentary group executive.
Merz is reacting so irritably to the issue because the course of defending the debt brake by all means is not shared by everyone in the party. Some CDU state premiers are only following the party leader reluctantly, and are calling for reforms more or less clearly. Daniel Günther (Schleswig-Holstein), Boris Rhein (Hesse) and Reiner Haseloff (Saxony-Anhalt) are among them. Berlin’s Governing Mayor Kai Wegner is very clear about his demand: he wants to launch a Federal Council initiative to reform the debt brake. So far, Merz has been able to rely on the Bundestag faction as a bulwark against such plans – Kiesewetter’s initiative runs counter to this.
Roderich Kiesewetter told WELT about the events: “As a matter of principle, I do not comment on the statements and do not comment on non-public meetings. We have an excellent culture of debate in the parliamentary group, which our parliamentary group leadership promotes and which I stand by in every respect.”