German Zeitenwende in Brussels? - Friedrich Merz Takes the Stage
By Anna-Magdalena Glockzin, 2 minutes.
After the collapse of its “traffic light" government, Germany is facing new elections on the 23rd of February 2025. The outcome is being closely watched. A shift to the right is certain, as the polls show. The conservative centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) are in the lead, and their chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz is widely expected to take over as Germany’s new chancellor. In the meantime, Merz is busy setting the scene for his future office term. At the Leaders’ Retreat of the European People’s Party (EPP) on the 17th and 18th of January in Berlin, he was a prominent figure. He gathered nine EPP heads of state, among them leaders from Latvia, Greece, Sweden and Portugal, EPP’s chair Manfred Weber, Parliament President Roberta Metsola as well as Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who had just recovered from severe pneumonia. This meeting was supposed to underscore the leading role among European conservative leaders that Merz already claims for himself. After all, the German Christian Democrats make up the largest part of the EPP, which is in turn the biggest party in the European Parliament.
Friedrich Merz (2024)
By Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=151722057
At the summit, he emphasized that when elected, he’ll bring about a “Zeitenwende (turning point) in Brussels”. His focus? Tackling what he considers as the massive problem of over-regulation and bureaucracy at the EU level. Especially with regard to the supply chain law and corporate sustainability directive, Merz highlighted the need to decrease regulation, arguing that it constitutes one of the major reasons for the EU’s suffering economy. Since there was a considerable increase of bureaucracy during Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s tenure, this statement can also be understood as an expression of mistrust towards or detachment from the previous government.
In any case, Merz has already asserted himself as a dominant voice among the conservative leaders in the European Union. Furthermore, at the summit, other important and influential members of the EPP showed that they stand behind Merz and his plans for the EU. EPP’s Chair Weber, for example, said that the party supports Merz’s “plan for de-bureaucratisation in Europe”. This strengthens Merz’s position further. It is crucial that Germany regains trust from its European partners after years of a quarreling and indecisive government. Merz seems determined in leading that endeavour, declaring that Germany needs to engage itself more in Europe because “whether we want to or not, we’re the country that matters most”.
