After a trip to Kyiv: Friedrich Merz gives Chancellor Olaf Scholz advice
Created: 05/04/2022Updated: 05/04/2022 06:36
By: Tobias Utz, Katja Thorwarth
CDU leader Friedrich Merz surprisingly meets President Selenskyj in Kyiv.
With a TV interview, the opposition leader is now putting pressure on Chancellor Scholz.
Update from Wednesday, May 4th, 6:30 a.m .:
CDU leader Friedrich Merz advised Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to also travel personally to Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia.
He can only recommend this to Scholz in order to hold talks on site, said Merz on Tuesday evening after political talks in Kyiv on ZDF.
He met the President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Parliament, the leader of the opposition and the Mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko.
"You can't have these conversations over the phone.
You can't do that with video conferencing either.
You need to have these conversations in person.”
Friedrich Merz is received by Volodymyr Selenskyj
+++ 18:56:
CDU party leader Friedrich Merz was received by President Volodymyr Selenskyj during his visit to the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
The hour-long conversation was "extraordinarily good in terms of atmosphere and content," said Merz's spokesman Armin Peter on Twitter on Tuesday.
Merz first wanted to talk to Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) about the content.
The CDU chairman Friedrich Merz (r) visits Kyiv and is received by President Volodymyr Zelenskyj.
© Niels Starnick for BILD/dpa
According to Merz, he traveled to Ukraine by train.
At first it was unclear whether President Zelenskyj would receive him;
that a head of state receives an opposition politician from abroad is by no means a matter of course in terms of protocol.
The visit of the CDU leader had fueled the debate in Germany as to whether Chancellor Scholz should also travel to Ukraine.
However, Scholz had made it clear on ZDF the evening before that he saw the unloading of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier through Ukraine as an obstacle to his own trip there.
Merz surprisingly meets Selenskyj
+++ 17.15:
Friedrich Merz surprisingly met the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj in Kiev.
A one-hour conversation took place, the delegation said.
Friedrich Merz, CDU party chairman, speaks to journalists in Irpin.
After weeks of discussions about a possible trip by Chancellor Scholz (SPD), opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) has now traveled to Ukraine.
© Efrem Lukatsky/AP/dpa
+++ 3.30 p.m .:
Friedrich Merz met the President of the Ukrainian Parliament, Ruslan Stefantschuk, in Kiev.
There were diplomatic talks.
+++ 2.45 p.m
.: Friedrich Merz has now arrived in Ukraine.
A visit to Irpin near Kyiv is planned first, it said.
Merz emphasized to the TV station Welt that he had "every respect" and "great recognition" for the Ukrainian troops.
"I think we in Germany are still obliged to continue to help this country and to help a city like Irpin with the reconstruction."
+++ 1.15 p.m .:
According to dpa information, the CDU chairman Friedrich Merz has arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kiev.
The opposition leader wants to meet there, among other things, the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal and Mayor Vitali Klitschko, as the German Press Agency learned from Ukrainian government circles.
Friedrich Merz reports from the sleeping car: "Nice to be in this country"
+++ 11.34 a.m .:
CDU leader Friedrich Merz spoke up from a sleeping car.
"One night in a sleeper on the way to #Kyiv - we have an interesting journey ahead of us and so far I can only say: 'Everything is safe, everything is good and the Ukrainian authorities are extremely cooperative.
It's nice to be in this country," it said on Twitter.
The video shows Merz taking a selfie in the compartment during the day as the train travels through a wooded area.
During his visit to Kyiv, the opposition leader wants to meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal and Mayor Vitali Klitschko, among others.
Merz travels to Kyiv: According to Kuban, the CDU leader takes over Scholz's job
Update from Tuesday, May 3rd, 9:00 a.m.:
With his planned trip to Kiev, CDU leader Friedrich Merz is taking on the Chancellor's task of showing solidarity with Ukraine, according to the chairman of the Junge Union, Tilman Kuban.
“Scholz and his ministers could have gone to Kyiv for weeks and thus sent a sign of solidarity.
Merz has to do it now," Kuban told the Rheinische Post.
Merz said on Monday that he was going to Kyiv at the invitation of the Ukrainian parliament.
The CDU chairman was accused of wanting to use the trip for party political purposes.
CDU General Secretary Mario Czaja rejected this.
"It really has nothing to do with the upcoming state election campaigns," he said on Deutschlandfunk on Tuesday, referring to the weekend votes in Schleswig-Holstein and a week later in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Merz had already planned the trip on February 22, but then the war intervened.
Friedrich Merz travels to Kyiv – despite an “express” BKA warning
First report from Monday, May 2nd, 12:00 p.m.:
Berlin/Kiev – Friedrich Merz announced at the weekend that he would be traveling to Kiev.
This was also confirmed by Jacob Schrot, Merz's chief of staff, with a statement on Twitter.
He wanted to get an idea of the situation himself, explained Merz.
The CDU boss did not give any further details for security reasons.
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) warned Merz "expressly" against traveling to Ukraine.
According to the BKA, such a trip needs more lead time in order to be able to plan it.
When UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently visited Kyiv, there had been Russian rocket attacks.
The Tagesspiegel reports that the Chancellery is said to have offered Merz foreign policy advice.
Merz apparently refused.
Merz is said to have rejected the BKA offer to get personal protection.
"Friedrich Merz wants to listen and take the specific requests for support from the Ukrainian interlocutors to Germany," said Merz's chief of staff, Schrot.
It is not yet clear whether a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will take place on site.
According to the Tagesspiegel, efforts are currently being made to do so.
Friedrich Merz wants to travel to Kyiv – despite the BKA warning
Merz would thus be the first responsible person from German politics to travel to Kyiv.
At the beginning of April, the chairmen of the Bundestag committees for defence, foreign relations and European affairs traveled to Ukraine.
The FDP defense politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the SPD foreign politician Michael Roth and the Greens European politician Anton Hofreiter met with representatives of the Ukrainian parliament in the west of the country.
According to the Tagesspiegel, the start of the journey is planned for Tuesday night by train.
Before that, Merz wants to appear together with Markus Söder and Hendrik Wüst at a press conference for the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia.
(tu/ktho with dpa/AFP)
