Change mood in Germany.
The Chancellor does not lift a finger for her follower Armin Laschet, Söder continues to tease in interviews.
And Friedrich Merz's help has a price.
Comment from Merkur editor-in-chief Georg Anastasiadis.
A green chancellor for Germany?
This is no longer a nightmare for more and more German citizens.
What seemed unimaginable to many until now, however, is the longing for death that is taking hold of the Union more and more every day.
The next weekend, the next interview, in which one of the Union leaders states what he thinks of the other.
Namely nothing.
Laschet cannot count on Söder's support - he only has one trump card
The signal is clear: Armin Laschet cannot count on help from Munich - just as, conversely, his Bavarian competitor could not have trusted support from NRW if he had been named a candidate. Even the Chancellor makes no move to throw her weight into the scales for her most loyal follower of many years and for her party. At the end of her reign she stages herself as floating above the parties. This is not a good script to defend power in Berlin.
Laschet only has one trump card left.
And that is Friedrich Merz of all people, the old rival whom he could only bring down with all his strength (and with Markus Söder's help).
The CDU chief hesitated for a long time to accept Merz's offer to make him shadow super minister.
There was too much concern that a Merz would be too dominant, that it would not be involved, and that Merkel voters were scared off.
Union power struggle: Laschet is now dependent on Merz - he could become the new strong man in the end
But the more Merkel and Söder Laschet give the cold shoulder, the more urgently he has to rely on the Sauerland as a locomotive to mobilize the conservative voters for him.
Laschet's weakness is Merz's chance.
If things go wrong on September 26th and the Union ends up in the opposition, Merz, as parliamentary group leader, could become the new strong man of the Union in Berlin and stand up to the Chancellor.
The new, green chancellor.
Georg Anastasiadis