The international press also reports on the recent state elections and the CDU's election debacle.
The journalists go hard with party leader Laschet.
Mainz / Stuttgart - It is the start of the “super election year 2021”, in which six state elections will take place, two local elections and the federal election.
Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate started on Sunday and elected their state parliament.
In Baden-Wuerttemberg Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) clearly won, in Rhineland-Palatinate Malu Dreyer (SPD) defended her seat in the State Chancellery.
The CDU, on the other hand, suffered severe loss of votes in both federal states.
The international press picked up on the state elections and discussed above all the chances of Armin Laschet (CDU party leader) as the new chancellor.
International press: CDU debacle at the center of the reporting
The international press was particularly interested in the two CDU election bankruptcies.
The Belgian newspaper
De Standaard,
for example, wrote on Monday: “Until recently, the CDU and CSU tandem had hoped to be able to recharge their batteries on Sunday for the federal elections at the end of September.
For the first time in 16 years, the Union presents itself to the electorate without its current Chancellor, supporter and vote-catcher Angela Merkel, who is withdrawing from politics.
But the slow vaccination campaign and the scandals surrounding enrichment and suspicious lobbying let that hope melt away. "
The Swiss
Neue Zürcher Zeitung also
goes into the poor election results of the CDU: “The double downward trend of the CDU should radiate as far as Berlin and strengthen the centrifugal forces in the government.
It gets lonely for Angela Merkel.
Your parliamentary group will not accept the prospect of losing seats in the federal election in September.
... The results are likely to have a decisive impact on the ambitions of the new CDU chairman Armin Laschet and on the coalition arithmetic in future elections.
Laschet is not responsible for the greed of some members of the Union who earned a golden nose in the pandemic.
He is still ailing.
So far he has not found the right words to set up and direct an insecure party. "
Another important aspect addressed by the international press is the question of Merkel's successor.
The Schweizer
Tagesanzeiger
would understand a candidate for chancellor from the Prime Minister of Bavaria, Markus Söder (CSU), as a disgrace for the CDU: "The most important decision in the Union as to who should be candidate for chancellor is still to come: Armin Laschet, the new CDU- Boss, does not inspire people inside or outside the party.
CSU boss Markus Söder is more popular, but his freestyle would be a humiliation for the CDU.
The election campaign in the next few months should be more exciting than expected. "
International press: Bad prospects for the Bundestag elections for the SPD
In addition, the international press seems to make fun of the SPD's equally bad polls.
The
Vienna
press
sees no chance of success for the Social Democrats.
“Almost everything is still possible in this election year in Germany.
Except for an SPD triumph.
The Greens currently have the strongest tailwind, but it will hardly carry them to the Chancellery.
Laschet still has the best cards if he keeps his nerve, keeps Söder quiet, no new scandals arise and Germany is vaccinated by September.
If, if, if.
The CDU boss is weakened. "
The SPD tries to give the impression that its prospects in the federal election are not bad due to the scandals in the CDU.
The newspaper
La Repubblica
from Rome takes up this belief of the SPD in its reporting.
“An interesting optimism at a time when the Social Democrats are lagging behind the Greens and the CDU in all nationwide surveys.
But the regional debacle of Angela Merkel's and Armin Laschet's party can be interpreted as an evacuation request for the Christian Democrats. "
The international press primarily addresses the question of Angela Merkel's successor.
Many still see this as the best chance for the Union to win the Bundestag election.
Despite much criticism of the CDU party chairman Armin Laschet.
(Dana Popp / dpa)
