Many observers should look very closely: Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz travels to Berlin. Before that, he already spoke about the time after Angela Merkel.
- Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz visits Germany on Monday and Tuesday.
- The program includes an interview with colleague Angela Merkel (CDU).
- Shortly before arriving in Berlin, Kurz made a forecast for the time after the next federal election.
Berlin - Austrian politics is not always the focus of German debates. Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP), that much is certain, has moved Vienna back into the focus of political Berlin. Not least because of his choice of coalition partners . In 2017 he chose the nationalist FPÖ . After the election in autumn, the Greens now rule on Kurz's side. And despite this, some conservatives between Flensburg and Oberstdorf consider Kurz to be a role model for modern conservatism, a kind of conservative poster boy.
All of this could also be the subject of a meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) in Berlin on Monday. A lunch at the Chancellery will officially deal with the relations between the two countries as well as European, economic and international issues. These fields also contain explosives.
Sebastian Kurz visits Angela Merkel: "I even expect the next government in Germany ..."
Shortly after the strong influx of refugees in 2015, she appeared as a keen critic of German refugee policy - and thus also from Merkel. Recently, there have been fewer discord in the relationship, from Kurz's point of view also because Germany has moved closer to its position on migration issues. The topic of migration policy was once again high on the weekend.
Sebastian Kurz now rules in Vienna with Werner Kogler's Greens.
© AFP / Alex Halada
Kurz also has an announcement for his German colleagues when it comes to finding a coalition . “Of course, the government of conservatives and Greens in Austria can also be a model for Germany. I even expect the next government in Germany to be black and green , ”Kurz told the world on Sunday . The latest survey values could actually speak for this. Kurz will then meet Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday.
Angela Merkel in constant use: also appointments with the head of the Argentine government and grocers
A busy Monday is on for Merkel. The Chancellor also welcomes Argentine President Alberto Fernández to his inaugural visit to Berlin. The topics of the meeting are bilateral relations and economic exchange as well as current political developments in South America. Argentina is currently going through a severe economic crisis.
In the morning there will also be a Merkel meeting with representatives from Aldi, Lidl, Edeka and Co. - among other things, it should be about the prices of food.
In September Sebastian Kurz had clashed on German television with ZDF presenter Claus Kleber. Former Austrian Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache is meanwhile planning a comeback.
dpa / AFP / fn