Fight for succession Merkel gets more raw, Merz goof

Barely a month after he appeared as a promising candidate for the follow-up of Angela Merkel, Friedrich Merz's look is already dimmed. Some clumsy remarks, a little too much bravery and an old newspaper article for homeless people have been criticized and ridiculed.

The CDU will elect a new president at the end of next week. In addition to Merz, Secretary General Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (nickname: AKK) and Health Minister Jens Spahn are candidates. The battle between the three becomes more and more raw. Anyone who wins will have good chances to follow Merkel later as Chancellor.

Merz was one of the promising young men who, after the Helmut Kohl era, was ready to assume leadership of the party and the country. But after having made room for Angela Merkel in 2002 as president, he fell behind. Loosely, he traded active politics against a career in the financial world in 2009.

When Bild asked him for the last time he was a millionaire, he declared that he was not Was "not at all" and that it belongs to the "upper middle class". A day later he meant that he was earning a million a year

Sadly contrasted with the story of a homeless newspaper published in 2010 about the computer portable that Merz had lost in 2004. A homeless man had found him at that time and had brought him to the police. To his great disappointment, Merz sent a book from his hand as a thank you, according to the man. He had the book entitled Nur wer sich ändert, wird bestehen. Vom Ende der Wohlstandsillusion – angry in the Spree. The man and a witness reaffirmed the story, but Merz declined to comment.

Seriously for Merz, an appeal to a full court has been called into question to challenge the individual right of asylum enshrined in the Constitution. This sparked so much criticism – he used lies and turned out not to know the law – that he said a day later that he had never said it.

The storm on this subject was not yet exhausted, or he claimed that the CDU had let the AfD rise "by shrugging his shoulders". His rival, AKK, described the statement as a "slap" to all members of the CDU who have made great efforts in recent years to fight against the AfD. Anyone wishing to speak at the CDU needs the voice of these people.