Corona easing, a Merkel visit to Wuhan and secret meeting of the Union grandees Laschet and Söder.
The ZDF talk with Markus Lanz.
"Markus Lanz" on Wednesday evening is mainly about the prevailing crisis at the CDU.
Shortly before the end of the Merkel era, the party made a name for itself with negative headlines.
After the election failure of Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder, it seems that the Christian-Democratic Party with Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet is in the middle of a crisis of meaning.
But is that really true?
Journalist Robin Alexander is getting to the bottom of this.
In an interview with the ZDF presenter, the author of the book “Machtverfall” speaks about the decline in power of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU).
Instead of spending her last term in office abroad, according to Alexander, the Chancellor was "desperate in the Prime Minister's round".
The journalist also sees a further decline in power in the CDU - especially with regard to the dispute between Armin Laschet and Markus Söder.
Lanz guest talks about Merkel's visit to Wuhan - immediately before the corona pandemic
Exciting: The journalist was in Wuhan with Merkel in September 2019 - "before the Corona period", as he hastily clarified.
“At that time nobody was familiar with Wuhan, we wondered why we were going there,” he continues.
When traveling to China, the Chancellor always visits Beijing and a provincial city.
They also visited a hospital in Wuhan.
"It is of course crazy that you go to such a place with the Chancellor and three months later the whole world is wondering: How, exactly there?"
"Markus Lanz" - these were his guests on May 26th:
Robin Alexander
- journalist and “world” policy expert
Christoph Ploß
- politician and chairman of the Hamburg CDU
Prof. Hendrik Streeck
- virologist and director of the Institute for Virology at the University Hospital Bonn
Christina Berndt
- journalist and SZ science editor
In the broadcast on May 26th, Alexander made it clear that the power struggle between the two men was not a classic quarrel between the CDU and CSU.
Rather, it is an identity crisis within the CDU.
A crisis that cannot be resolved and eliminated overnight.
In an interview with Lanz, Robin Alexander even puts forward the steep thesis: "If the boys in the CDU had voted, Söder would have got 80 percent."
Finally, he teased the CDU candidate for Chancellor Armin Laschet: "Laschet never saw the wave that almost killed him."
Of particular interest to Markus Lanz are two secret meetings between Laschet and Söder in Hesse, which Robin Alexander describes in his book. “I've never heard of it before,” admits the ZDF presenter. According to Alexander, at the height of the tug-of-war to clarify the Union's candidacy for chancellor, the candidates met on “neutral ground” in an airport hotel in Frankfurt. “They spoke out on two days, with a week in between, but they didn't come to an agreement and in the end they openly fought it out”. The first conversation between the two politicians was about the fact that Laschet "first wanted to hear whether Söder wanted to", while in the second "Laschet understood that Söder was not withdrawing". Then it got violent.
CDU politician Christoph Ploß admits that the CDU will have to "readjust" itself in the future
A tough sentence, in which the young CDU state chairman Christoph Ploß intervenes towards the end of the program.
He asserts that the party will have to "readjust" a few things after the Merkel era - such as migration policy.
Instead of engaging in a more in-depth discussion, ZDF presenter Markus Lanz simply states when looking at Ploß: "You are 35 and you talk like someone who has been in a party for 60 years."
On the other hand, Ploß became much more talkative when it came to the much discussed topic of gender language.
After the politician had already expressed his criticism in the past few weeks, he followed up with Lanz on Wednesday and said confidently: "The state institutions should adhere to German grammar."
For Ploß, gender stars are only there to divide society.
Business journalist Christina Berndt then counters, noting that “slight stoppers in the language” would create more awareness.
Journalist Robin Alexander denounces “Markus Lanz” (ZDF): “Children have no right to vote”
The Corona crisis is still a topic at “Markus Lanz”.
Unlike in the previous weeks, however, the guests are for the first time optimistic about the future.
Only the topic of children and young people causes disaffection.
The reason?
Christina Berndt criticizes: While pensioners are allowed to travel to Mallorca again, the government is still reluctant to open schools.
And that although all the necessary safety precautions can be taken.
"Welt" journalist Robin Alexander then hooks again and claims that this is a deeper problem: "Children have no right to vote."
Alexander adds with a serious look: "We are a country characterized by childlessness."
“Markus Lanz” - conclusion of the show
On Wednesday evening, “Markus Lanz” is primarily about the question of how deep the CDU's identity problem goes - and what could happen to Armin Laschet after the Merkel era. In the ZDF broadcast, however, there is a lack of heated discussions. Instead, a colorful mix of guests, including young politician Christoph Ploß, only roughly touches on one topic after the next. The draft was a little lacking in the May 26 broadcast. But at least the virologist Hendrik Streeck is confident about the future when it comes to Corona.
