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Friedrich Merz: "Other Chancellors before Scholz were braver and more hands-on"
Photo: IMAGO/Christian Spicker
CDU leader Friedrich Merz has accused Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) of leadership weakness after a year of traffic light government.
»The Federal Chancellor would have had a great opportunity to achieve a lot more in our country thanks to what he himself called a turning point.
He didn't use this opportunity," Merz told the Rheinische Post.
“Other Chancellors before Scholz were braver and more hands-on.
Even Gerhard Schroeder.
I'm just reminding you of his Agenda 2010 labor market reforms." Merz's praise of the former chancellor comes at a memorable time: in recent months, former chancellor Schröder has been criticized from all sides for his closeness to Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin, and the SPD continues to discuss his possible exclusion.
'We are still governed below our standards.
The coalition argues too much and spends too little time trying to achieve a turn for the better in economic and energy policy," said Merz.
In school they would say that the government "made a good effort."
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt had recently attested the traffic light "a smooth 5".
According to Merz, the government's greatest weakness "is currently economic policy."
According to his conviction, the CDU will establish itself in surveys with more than 30 percent.
"The parliamentary group is running, the party is working intensively on its content-related realignment."
The red-green-yellow government started work almost a year ago with the motto "dare more progress", Scholz took his oath of office as chancellor on December 8th.
According to a survey commissioned by SPIEGEL, the majority of Germans are also disappointed with the work of the coalition.
Read an interview with leading traffic light politicians on the anniversary here.
mfh/dpa