The former Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz has accused the CSU party chairman Markus Söder of deliberately damaging the Union with his taunts against Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet.

He now expects "that Markus Söder will stop now and that he also wants to win the election together with us and that he is fighting," said Merz, according to the newspaper Tagesspiegel, on Tuesday at an event in Sundern.

"I told him that too," added Merz.

With Söder's speech at the Union's election campaign on Saturday in Berlin, Merz was only "partially satisfied". Söder could have "dispensed with some comments". In his speech, the CSU chairman was dissatisfied with the previous union election campaign and called for more fighting spirit. Söder had held back with praise for Laschet - although he had assured him of his support.

In addition, Merz announced that the pressurized chancellor candidate Laschet would no longer present a team or shadow cabinet.

"Armin Laschet has decided not to present a team," quoted the Tagesspiegel Merz.

“There won't be a team or a squad around him.

Rather, there will only be individual appearances with individual MPs, applicants and individual ministers or prime ministers on individual topics. "

Merz demanded from Laschet that the Union must now "grow significantly".

Laschet is the captain.

"And now he has to show how the strategy works, he has to show how the tactics work and, above all, he has to show how the goals are scored."