Germany: Armin Laschet, the “new Angela Merkel”?
Audio 03:22
Armin Laschet, during a press conference organized on April 20, 2021 in Berlin.
© AFP / John MacDougall
By: Vincent Souriau
8 mins
In September, German Chancellor Angela Merkel will step down after 16 years in office.
His party, the powerful conservative CDU / CSU alliance, has just appointed its successor.
His name is Armin Laschet and it is he who will be the Conservative candidate in the federal elections.
Moderate, like Angela Merkel, he will have to make a name for himself and rekindle the flame in an electorate thirsty for change.
Publicity
As soon as he entered the battle, the banana peels rocketed.
Too nice, too soft, too liberal, too moderate… It was enough to read the polls: the conservative supporters wanted a tough guy and
Armin Laschet
did not have the guts to run for the post of chancellor.
Except that it is not public opinion that makes the election. It is the steering committee of the CDU which has the last word and
Laschet has put the caciques of his party in the pocket thanks
, precisely, to his very consensual profile, underlines the researcher Isabelle Bourgeois, who heads the think tank. Tandem Europe.
“
He's not new to politics, far from it.
He is the head of government of the largest German Land, North Rhine-Westphalia, it is almost the equivalent of the Netherlands in economic weight.
And what is most important: he has demonstrated, over the course of his professional political life, his ability to create compromises,
”explains Isabelle Bourgeois.
“
But what is on the horizon for the Bundestag elections is a coalition with at least two or even three parties.
You would have the CDU, the Greens and the FDP (the liberals).
Laschet is perfectly capable of handling this.
He actually looks like Angela Merkel,
”she said.
► To read also: What will remain of Angela Merkel in 2021, after 16 years at the head of Germany?
Angela Merkel, Armin Laschet, same fight?
We have heard it a lot, this comparison.
To choose Laschet would be to make old with new.
This little round man with glasses, fervent Catholic and father of three, would be no more than a cheap replica of the outgoing chancellor.
So, Angela Merkel, Armin Laschet, same fight?
Not at all, replies German MEP Michael Gahler.
Yes, they share the same ideals, but they are not made of the same wood.
“
Angela Merkel did not have a natural political socialization.
She entered at 35 with the fall of the Wall and she came from zero, no party, no political formation.
It started at the highest federal and European level,
”recalls Michael Gahler.
Then he adds: “
Armin is the opposite, he is very rooted in the party.
Merkel's councils were technocrats and with Armin they were party friends, people who looked at it politically, not administratively.
This is in my opinion the big difference between Merkel and Laschet
.
"
Win back the electorate who turned away from Merkel
The Laschet method will have to prove itself very quickly. By the time of the elections, in September, the CDU / CSU alliance must re-mobilize its troops and catch up with the conservative electorate by the collar, which has turned away from Angela Merkel. A wealthy, young and urban class ready to be seduced by the German Greens. On this topic, Armin Laschet and Michael Gahler have already prepared their technical sheets.
“
We are going to attack the Greens in their illusions.
We will reduce CO2 to 55% until 2030. That's fine, we will support it.
But it is the Greens who ask for even more and risk, by doing so, the German industrial base.
It is nicknamed the “
Verbot Partei
”, the prohibition party, the prohibition party.
We are going to tell people “
it's good to take care of the environment, but we must not exaggerate
”
, explains Michael Gahler.
Armin Laschet was appointed for that: to return to the fundamentals of Christian democracy blunted by years of coalition with the Social Democrats.
If he succeeds, he has a good chance of slipping into the Chancellor's costume.
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Germany
Angela Merkel