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The situation in the morning: The world does not appear in the German election campaign

2021-09-13T04:15:25.911Z


Scholz, Baerbock, Laschet - who won the Triell? And why is Germany so self-centered before the election? Also: the tennis miracle Emma Raducanu. That is the situation on Monday.


Today it's about the triad between Scholz, Baerbock and Laschet and the questions: Who won?

And why is Germany so self-centered before the election?

Also: the tennis miracle Emma Raducanu.

Statesman Scholz, Aggro-Laschet and Baerbock's message

In case you

missed

the triall of

the three candidates for chancellor last night, here is my summary. SPD candidate Olaf Scholz came out of the show the way he got there: As someone who is already talking and working, as many people in Germany imagine a chancellor to be -

so it was a good evening for Scholz

. The attacks, especially by Armin Laschet, caused Scholz to roll over long stretches of his body; despite exchanging blows with his CDU opponent, he almost continuously spread the usual

mixture of boredom and statesmanship

.

The Greens candidate Annalena Baerbock rose after a somewhat jittery start, in the second half of the evening she was able to

score

competently and passionately on the topics of climate protection and pensions

- and made an emotional final statement. Baerbock was able to convey her message that she was the candidate against the "business as usual".

The worst was the evening for the CDU candidate Armin Laschet

, who was in the difficult situation to attack the poll King Scholz to have - but that did doggedly so that it all evening somewhere

between passive-aggressive, openly aggressive or mocking grin

was traveling . That didn't seem sympathetic.

The respondents in a ZDF quick poll saw it similarly: 32 percent thought Scholz had done best, 26 percent saw Baerbock ahead, 20 percent Laschet - and 21 percent saw no difference between the three.

There are still 13 days until the election.

  • Triell about the Chancellery: two fight, one scores

America is far from being as self-centered as Germany

What is really grotesque is that yesterday evening there was actually

not a single question about foreign policy

- and apart from a few skirmishes on the left and on NATO, none of the three candidates spoke out on their own initiative. Of course, election campaigns around the world are mainly conducted and decided on domestic political issues. And yet: Germany is Europe's economically and politically leading country.

All over the continent, people are interested in the effects of a possible new government on German foreign policy. Only in Germany itself, apparently, hardly anyone does that

. Should the world's problems, from climate to terrorism, be solved single-handedly?

There really is enough to talk about: a failed twenty-year campaign in Afghanistan is just coming to an end, a right-wing populist could become president in France next year, democracy is at stake in Poland and Hungary - all of this has a lot to do with Germany.

And anyway:

How should Germany in future behave towards an increasingly aggressive China, on which it is economically dependent?

Nevertheless, the triall only revolved around German domestic politics.

That was of course due to the moderator duo of the show, but also tells something fundamental about the country.

In recent weeks, many complaints have been heard in Germany about how self-centered the United States would have acted in withdrawing from Afghanistan - but the Americans are far from being as self-centered as German election campaigns.

  • Annalena Baerbock and Joschka Fischer during the election campaign: "What do you say to a young woman who does not want to live under the Taliban?"

Merkel in Poland, fines against Poland

Foreign policy, Angela Merkel was mostly responsible for this in Germany in the past few years, foreign minister or not.

In the last few meters of her term in office, Merkel is once again devoting herself to foreign policy.

They are farewell visits -

your interlocutors know of course that the incumbent no longer decides about the future

.

So she stopped by Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at the weekend.

In Warsaw, however, the resigning Chancellor was snubbed in a petty way: President Andrzej Duda allegedly had no time for Merkel, scheduling problems - of course, who does not know it.

In the escalating conflict between the EU and Poland over the rule of law, Merkel continues to take a soft stance: She relies on talks - which, however, have so far failed.

The EU Commission is now - after a long hesitation - finally switching to consistent penalties so that Poland's government can restore the independence of the judiciary.

The EU has applied to the European Court of Justice for fines that could amount to up to one million euros per day. Has Brussels waited too long? And what is the Commission doing with countries such as Hungary and Bulgaria, which also have infringements? My colleagues Ralf Neukirch and Maximilian Popp spoke to EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders:

  • The EU Commission has requested that Poland pay penalty payments.

    EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders explains why Brussels is only now taking action against the government in Warsaw

Winner of the day ...

... is the 18-year-old tennis player

Emma Raducanu

, who was the first unseeded player to win a Grand Slam tournament since modern tennis began: the US Open.

Stories like these are what make tennis so special: In a few sports, individual players with their biographies and victories can become so larger than life.

But tennis has recently been shaped by the eternal dominance of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic for men, and Serena Williams for women - the story of Raducanu comes at exactly the right time: the Canadian-born daughter of a Chinese woman and one Romanian, who grew up in Great Britain, even faced another unseeded player in the final: 19-year-old Canadian Leylah Fernandez.

Sport can use rejuvenation.

The latest news from the night

  • Britney Spears announces engagement - in clear words:

    The nickname »lioness« is emblazoned on the diamond ring: Singer Britney Spears has become engaged to the dancer Sam Asghari.

    Both celebrated the happy event on Instagram

  • Djokovic loses the final to Medvedev - and misses a historic opportunity:

    In the end it was unexpectedly clear: Novak Djokovic hardly had a chance against the Russian Daniil Medvedev in the final of the US Open.

    After the game it got maudlin

  • North Korea is testing long-range cruise missiles:

    It was the first launch in almost six months: the Pyongyang regime has tested another cruise missile.

    High-ranking government officials watched

The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today

  • Schools caught in the corona trap: the myth of face-to-face teaching

  • French opponents of vaccination and their fight against Macron: The hatred of the "tyrant in the Élysée"

  • Immigration Policy: What Germany Can Learn From Canada

  • Documentary about a school class: How an exceptional teacher makes integration a success

I wish you a good start to the week.

Sincerely,


your Mathieu von Rohr

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-09-13

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