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BERLIN – A former rival of Chancellor Angela Merkel, who seeks to replace her as head of the German conservative party, said on Wednesday that he would seek to renew the party and establish close ties with Western democracies, without claiming a radical reversal of current politics.
Friedrich Merz, corporate lawyer and former leader of Merkel's conservatives, said that he could talk with the chancellor despite the clashes that had led to his gradual exit from politics almost 10 years ago. Good working relations with the Chancellor would be essential to ensure party support for the political agenda of the ruling coalition.
"We need an awakening and a revival, but not a reversal," Merz said at a press conference, without giving further details.
Mr Merz is one of three candidates for Merkel's succession. This week, she said she would not run for the party and end her fourth term as Chancellor by 2021.
Mr Merz, who represents the conservative wing of the Christian Democratic Union, or CDU, was German legislator from 1994 to 2009, from 2000 to 2002 as head of the conservative parliamentary group. He lost his post to Merkel after she became president of the party.
Many political analysts say the chancellor could not serve her sentence if he became president of the CDU in a vote at the party congress scheduled for early December.
Asked about her differences over a decade ago with Merkel, Merz said political differences sometimes led to separations, but "I firmly believe that Angela Merkel and I will get along. well in these new conditions ".
A Merz executive would point to his market-friendly, low-tax views that have made him popular with businesses. He works for the law firm Mayer Brown LLP, which advises leading German and international companies and heads the supervisory board of the German unit of asset manager, BlackRock Inc.
Mr Merz's move from politics to business and vice versa would mark a rare move in Germany. Critics argue, however, that its wealth and trading relationships could offer too much ammunition to its opponents in the face of rising anti-elite fervor.
On Wednesday, Merz spoke little of his economic policy goals, apart from prudent fiscal policy and increased contribution to the participation of ordinary Germans in the stock market.
Regarding Europe, he said that French President Emmanuel Macron deserved a better response to his proposals for European reform then presented by Ms Merkel. "We need to talk about the central issues of the future of the European Union," he said. "The main challenge is to maintain cohesion in the euro area. This will be Europe's biggest challenge in the years to come. "
Mr. Merz is also committed to reclaiming voters who have turned to the left and right margins. "We must not allow voters to join such populist movements and be seduced by their frustration or disappointment at the established parties," he said.
Merkel 's decision to open borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees in 2015 helped spark the rise of the far right alternative for Germany. Mr Merz did not comment on his position on migrants.
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Jens Spahn are the two other contenders at the helm.
Kramp-Karrenbauer, former Saarland prime minister and CDU general secretary, has good relations and is very popular within the party. Mr Spahn, the German Minister of Health, is a rising star in the party's conservative wing and was one of the first and most vocal critics of Merkel's migration policy.
Write to Andrea Thomas at [email protected]
