It looks like it's from the German chancellor Friedrich Merz shaken well heavy electoral defeat of his conservatives in the small German province of Saxony-Anhalt. His party in this East German province between the Elbe and Harz, with about 17 percent of the votes won, halved its result, while clear winner Alternative for Germany (AfD), with almost 44 percent of the vote. It is about a party that the provincial service for the protection of the constitutional order classifies as "unequivocally far-right", writes Deutsche Welle.
Then on Monday, the day after the election, Mertz uttered sentences that could not be heard from him before: "It affects us, including me personally. And I have to admit that this is the heaviest defeat that the CDU has experienced in the last few decades. All this, of course, will have to have consequences."
Mertz publicly criticizes CDU official Müller
But what kind? The chancellor, in any case, does not intend to change the direction of his government much. Although his popularity across the country is hitting new record lows. Mertz refuses any cooperation with the AfD, but also with the Left and the populist Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW). At the same time, he wants to continue the implementation of his controversial reforms, including the reform of the failing pension system. Although opposition to those reforms was one of the important topics of the election campaign in Saxony-Anhalt.
Mertz harshly attacks party critics as well. One of them is Sepp Müller, CDU MP from Saxony-Anhalt in the Bundestag. He has been the deputy head of the conservative parliamentary group in the Bundestag for five years.
Müller said a few days before the election that, given the results of public opinion polls at the time, the AfD would probably get a clear mandate to govern the province. That's what happened in the end. Mertz said on Monday that Müller thus, right before the elections, "stabbed" the CDU Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, Sven Schulze.
Müller wants to replace Schulze as head of the CDU in the province
Miller, however, is undeterred. Now he wants to oust Sven Schulze as CDU chairman in Saxony-Anhalt. Schulce, resigned to the defeat, announced that he would not run again. "We have to restore trust," Müller told RTL television on Tuesday. He added: "The voter must know what we will do after the election." Miller rejects any cooperation with the AfD, but also with the Left. He is preparing for a long period in the opposition.
There is no cooperation with the AfD and the Left - both Mertz and Schulze have always emphasized that, but it was still an open secret that Schulze considered it possible to form a minority government with the tacit support of the Left. That won't happen now. Observers, however, consider it possible that Ulrich Sigmund, the AfD's leading candidate and the landslide winner of the election, is counting on individual votes from the CDU ranks that could enable him to be elected provincial premier. Namely, he does not have an absolute majority, so he cannot form the government by himself.
Boris Rein no longer believes in the firewall
According to many observers, Mertz will come under pressure in the coming weeks on two issues: whether he can still implement his ambitious reforms and whether he will persist with the so-called fire wall. It is a policy that implies that there is no discussion and cooperation with the Alternative for Germany. But can such an attitude still be maintained given the great electoral success achieved by the AfD?
The Prime Minister of the federal state of Hesse, Boris Rein (CDU), who has considerable influence in his party, believes that he cannot.
He told "Welt TV" that the fire wall metaphor "is not Christian-democratic." According to him, many AfD voters are just insecure and fear social decline. His CDU must now "talk to everyone, about everything, build bridges to the political center, not push them behind fire walls. Because that's really the wrong way to go."
SPD cautiously deviates from the reform course
Meanwhile, from the ranks of the smaller coalition partner of the conservatives in the German government, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the first cautious hints of deviation from the strict reform course are coming. Back in the summer, the CDU, CSU and SPD were in agreement: the numerous proposals for the reform of the state pension system, presented by the expert commission, will be implemented as they were proposed - and in their entirety. But on election night, Labor Minister and SPD President Berbel Bas sounded different.
Bass first emphasized: "Now, when everything is over, to push the German government further into chaos - that cannot be our way." But at the same time she said: "However, we have to change something." Early retirement for long-term insured persons, known as the abbreviated "retirement at 63 years," has been bothering Bass for a long time. According to expert estimates, it costs taxpayers about four billion euros annually and should actually be abolished. Bass said now, "When people hear that they need to work harder and longer, that they need to be sick less and that things are basically going to get harder, it creates insecurity."
Therefore, it is quite possible that the Social Democrats, despite the express opposition of Merz, will insist on keeping the "pension at age 63". Namely, numerous provincial prime ministers from eastern and western Germany, both from the ranks of the CDU and the SPD, advocated for this. First of all, the Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania from the SPD, Manuela Schwesig, who is fighting for a new mandate in the provincial elections in less than two weeks.
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