Bundestag election: This is how other countries view the election in Germany and the candidates

Shortly before the federal election in 2021, everything in Germany revolves around the big election.

But how do other countries actually rate the German chancellor candidates?

Munich - In the hot phase before the federal election, the parties are fighting for undecided voters.

While the Corona debate sometimes fades into the background in the local news, other countries are also looking towards the German election campaign with increasing tension.

(Election data, live ticker, background coverage - all information about the federal election 2021 can be found in our politics newsletter.)

No wonder: Internationally, the Federal Republic of Germany, as an industrial nation, is one of the largest clocks in the world.

The course of government taken in this country for the next legislative period will inevitably also have an impact on the European Union and the rest of the world.

Federal Parliament election 2021: Baerbock, Scholz and Laschet "Parents spokesman in a daycare center"

If one compares assessments and evaluations of international publications, in view of the 2021 election in Germany, certain impressions emerge that are also known from home: The Chancellor candidates of the currently largest parties in the country, Annalena Baerbock, Armin Laschet and Olaf Scholz, leave it for themselves many reporters lack the taste for charisma. In the Bundestag election campaign - and especially the TV trialles - it is too diplomatic and unobjective. The

Neue Zürcher Zeitung

writes: "Baerbock, Laschet and Scholz act as if they should not be the chancellor of a major European power, but parents spokesmen in the day care center."

There are claims that the government policy of the people's parties would be very similar after the general election.

So it wouldn't make much difference whether the CDU / CSU, SPD or Greens come to power.

Can't you just draw who will succeed Angela Merkel?

"It would admittedly not get any better, but probably also not worse," is the

verdict of

the

NZZ

.

The Polish correspondent Lukasz Grajewski describes

a similar thesis

to

editorial network Germany

: "For Polish conditions, the German parties are relatively similar." In Polish election campaigns, the differences would be greater, it would be more heated and there would be more abuse.

Would that help Germany?

Doubtful.

And what do the foreign media think specifically about the candidates for chancellor Baerbock, Scholz and Laschet?

Annalena Baerbock (Greens): Misconduct, but "option for change and future"

Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock is

suffering from the aftermath of her misconduct, which came to light a few months ago. “There is a whole series of breakdowns stuck to the green candidate for Chancellor Annalena Baerbock, like eco honey that cannot be rubbed off,” explains

Der Standard

from Austria. The

NZZ

attests to Baerbock having given the AfD an “election present” based on her asylum statements after the events in Afghanistan: “Baerbock's approach may be morally sympathetic. Politically, it is not thought through to the end (...). If implemented, it would be a stress test for the cohesion of the European community of states. "

The chairman of the Greens, however, was the most prominent candidate in the TV triumph, says

El Pais

from Spain.

Between the two men at the lectern, Baerbock reacted "almost always with a smile on his face".

In addition, she did what was expected of her: "Hit the two representatives of the establishment and position yourself as an option for change and the future for Germany."

Olaf Scholz (SPD): Söder's Schlumpf quote and the sudden upturn

According to the

NZZ,

SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz

is

only a "pseudo giant" who can only shine because he benefits from the weakness of the competition. The former US ambassador to Germany takes the same line. John Kornblum explains in the

NY Times

: “The guy everyone likes best is the boring guy when it comes to voting - maybe even in the whole country.” “Der Standard” sees it similarly: The SPD man is “suddenly” in Germany sexy because it is so solid and dry as dust. A penny would not have been bet on him a few months ago. But the competition simply scored too many negative points. "

The Polish

Dziennik Gazeta Prawna also

sees the Social Democrat Scholz as a favorite for the government chairmanship: “He has no spectacular failures like Laschet, and unlike Baerbock, he has experience in governing.”

La Republicca

from Italy describes Scholz's upswing: “He should Don't grin that smurfy, the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder said at the time.

(...) It was March and Olaf Scholz looked like a candidate with no chance. ”But then the Federal Finance Minister was able to start scoring -“ Without doing anything.

Just because it exists ”.

Armin Laschet (CDU): "Germans seem repelled by his boredom"

Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet

: Many foreign media rate the CDU politician as (un-) charismatically like Scholz: The

Daily Express

wrote that he was a “would-be successor to Merkel” and had the aura of a “regional bank manager”. Due to the drop in the polls, the

Financial Times

comes

to the conclusion: "The Germans seem to be repulsed by Laschet's boredom."

Corriere della Sera

from Italy attests Laschet the lowest chance of victory: In addition to "sensational failures", the NRW state chief knew neither the moderate voters to mobilize, yet to distinguish oneself as the

"true heir to the voices of Angela Merkel."

The downturn in Laschet began "after the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister was filmed as he smirked at the scene of the tragedy." The growing feeling that Angela Merkel's legacy does not have the necessary weight to become Chancellor, according to

La Republicca

has become a certainty for many Germans.

In Austria, a TV broadcaster has analyzed the second TV triad of the candidates for chancellor.

It's about the meteoric upswing of the Social Democrats, the "embarrassments" of the competition - and looming problems in forming a coalition:

While Annalena Baerbock and Olaf Scholz made kilometers last, Armin Laschet stayed in the background.

The Union’s election campaign plans seem telling.

At

Merkur.de

you can always find out up-to-date in advance what the polls say for the federal election in 2021.

You will also find an interactive map here with all the results for constituencies and municipalities.

(PF)