Friedrich Merz sits at the bakery, jacket over his chair, and eats fruit cake.

The baker's wife pours out her heart to him.

And she's not the first today.

Merz has already been to three other companies, all run by families.

There was always coffee and sweets, and Merz listened to what people were worried about.

So now the bakers.

Konrad Schuller

Political correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in Berlin.

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At first glance, Merz doesn't fit in there.

He is seen as someone who wants to play at the top: in supervisory boards, at the top of the CDU, in the federal government.

With the mighty, not with the little ones.

But he needs the little ones.

They should elect him to the Bundestag, in his homeland, in the Hochsauerlandkreis.

Where the world is still in order for the CDU

Pretty clear it'll work.

Here the world is still okay for the CDU: It scratches the absolute majority, AfD and Greens are weak.

The economy is booming.

Corrugated cardboard, toilet paper, lights, large-scale cultivation of Christmas trees.

Nobody here talks about BlackRock, but everyone talks about bark beetles. Whole ridges are already bare. That worries the people. And Friedrich Merz is also concerned. He lives here, he cycles and hikes, and when you experience him with the people who are supposed to vote for him, you realize: he fits in there. He can with the little ones. He greets the managing director of the Kreishandwerkerschaft with "Well, you gangster?"

Merz gets bread on Saturdays and Sundays from a bakery whose bread he thinks are the best.

The baker's wife, in whose shop he is now sitting, contradicts him.

Jürgens bakery, Arnsberg, managed in the sixth generation, and the seventh is already in the starting position.

Ten stores, fifty employees.

And that's when the problems start: The bakery is looking for trainees but cannot find any.

Most school leavers don't want to.

It's also hard to go to the bakery at one at night while friends go to the club to celebrate.

Others are not good.

One should calculate: A piece of cake costs sixty-five, what does twelve cost?

She was even allowed to use the calculator.

Still no idea.

"Yes, Mr. Merz, there you laugh, there you look," comments the baker, laughing herself at the incredulous amazement of her guest.

It's not funny.

It's about the continued existence of the company.

The baker where Merz gets his bread rolls will close soon.

He couldn't find anyone to continue running the store.

Many young people are moving away

Another problem is country life.

The Sauerland is beautiful, but wide.

If you don't have a car, you have to wait for the bus.

Apprentices who have to take the bus to the shift could just as easily stay at home.

Nothing goes at night.

Many young people move away when they can.

For example, to where universities are.

They don't come back after they graduate.

It was the same with the children of Merz.

What will then happen to the clubs, the shooting festivals, the companies and the CDU?

A big question in the Sauerland.