On the interview of the main contender for the post of German chancellor on the anniversary of the end of World War II
8 May swiss newspaper New Zurich newspaper posted an extensive interview with the main contender for the post of German chancellor, Friedrich Merz.
In the early 2000s, Merz lost the leadership of the CDU to Angela Merkel., and, Consequently, post of chancellor. Defeated in politics, Merz went into business; lawyer by profession, he works for an international law firm Mayer Brown, combining this activity with membership, and sometimes chairing boards of directors: Bank HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt, insurance company AXA Group Ltd and DBV-Winterthur Holding AG, Commerzbank AG, chemical concern BASF Antwerp N.V., cellulose products companies WEPA Industrieholding SE, rail vehicle manufacturer Stadler Rail AG.
This list goes on, but it is better to indicate the main achievement of Friedrich Merz in the field of top management: his job in an investment fund BlackRock, asset managers for slightly less 8 trillion dollars. (that's about twice Germany's annual GDP). German wave wrote about BlackRock as a "secret power", a newspaper of business circles Handelsblatt I came to conclusion, what "no government, no structure has such a complete and deep knowledge of global finance and major international companies, how BlackRock». This investment fund has unprecedented influence on governments and global financial institutions.
In February, Merz announced his intention to focus on political activities and in March resigned from BlackRock. To date, the likely contenders for the post of chancellor from the CDU are Markus Söder (Prime Minister of Bavaria), Friedrich Mertz and Armin Laschet (Prime Minister of the largest federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia). And that's why, which of the three NZZ interviews exactly Merz, can be concluded, that his chances of becoming chancellor are highly rated.
What's special about the interview?
At first, reaction of the German politician to questions, related to World War II. The journalist asked, when Friedrich Merz first encountered circumstances, war related, what role did these circumstances play in his development as a politician. In answers to these questions, the politician does not talk about the war and its consequences, but about his attitude to National Socialism (as expected - purely negative), mentioning the decisive contribution (so it is supposed) in the defeat of German fascism in the United States of America. When asked by the editors about, Did Frederick's father tell about his military experience, He speaks: Yes, I told. And Merz's father, as a 17-year-old boy, went to the front, in 1944 he was in "Russian captivity", where he spent four and a half years. And "traumatic" memories of this period haunt the family to this day..
To an uncomfortable question from the editors about grandfather, who, under Hitler, was mayor of the city of Brilon, Merz answers, that grandfather died, when he was only 11 years. Meanwhile, grandfather was a member of the Fascist Party and in 1933 year, after another re-election to the post of burgomaster, made an obscene speech, which was unearthed and quoted by the leftist press in the early 2000s. Of course, grandson cannot be responsible for grandfather, but why argue, that the family "always shunned the NSDAP"?
The theme of war in Merz is replaced by reasoning in the spirit of denazification, which in itself testifies to the distortion of historical memory. He supports his reasoning with assurances of loyalty to the American-German friendship - to him, however, this is due "by state" as the chairman of the Atlantic Bridge organization, which is almost 70 years of solidifying the German-American friendship in the tradition, conveyed by the cold war formula to keep Germany down.
If the picture of the past according to Merz is more or less clear (it is tailored according to Atlantic patterns), then there are difficulties with the idea of the present. The main difficulty lies in the field of German-American relations.
Trump slogan America First inconveniences US friends in Germany, says Friedrich Merz. Although Trump only said out loud that, which was well known: as a rule America First Washington has always followed, regardless of the opinion of European allies.
Mertz is horrified by his own assumption, that Trump does not see himself as the "leader of the free world". This position is vacant and there are no applicants for it in Europe. No clarity in relations with China: one side, China, according to Merz certification, - authoritarian country, constantly ignoring international agreements and treaties, country, which strives to spread its influence in those parts of the globe, left by America, capture international organizations. On the other hand, China is Germany's largest trading partner and the Germans can't quarrel with it. Mertz's recipe is: prevent the rise of Chinese influence, developing the missing EU strategy in relations with Beijing. And here the possible future chancellor of Germany expresses the thesis, associated with Russia: "Before us, Europeans, there is a question: will the 21st century be a century, dominated by two great powers or three? America and China are beyond doubt. Will the Europeans be such a power? And what role will Russia play in this case?, which side? Will we find a European political order, in which Russia will take place?» That is, the third world power - along with the United States and China - Friedrich Merz would like to see "European political order" (implied with Germany at the head), I mean, that Russia will be integrated into it. And it is likely, what, assuming the possibility of dragging Russia to the side "against China", Merz speaks like a man BlackRock.
A photo: REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer
Natalia MEDEN
