Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet and Friedrich Merz (both CDU) used a joint appearance in Stuttgart at Südwestmetall to address the currently discussed financial scandals of the SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz.

Merz, who is responsible for economic policy in Laschet's future team, said: “People are slowly thinking about whether Olaf Scholz should actually become chancellor.” Merz also asked whether Scholz's finance state secretary, Wolfgang Schmidt, should actually become minister of the chancellery in Germany.

The Osnabrück public prosecutor's office is investigating Schmidt.

He had published parts of a search warrant on Twitter.

The aim was to clarify failures in the pursuit of money laundering 

Rudiger Soldt

Political correspondent in Baden-Württemberg.

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When asked whether the CDU paper presented in Stuttgart “Solid finances, strong economy, prosperity for everyone” contained any news, Laschet replied: A few days before the election, nothing new could be invented. Everything that the Union will do after the election is included in the election manifesto. If the solidarity surcharge is unconstitutional, the Union will use it to finance tax relief for citizens with low and middle incomes. According to the candidate for chancellor, there is no scope for further tax cuts.

For him and Merz, however, it was a matter of reminding the voters once again of which direction they would be facing in eleven days: In the election campaign and in the trialles it was shown that the SPD, the Greens and the Left Party were united: as many regulations as possible were needed so that Germany can get out of the pandemic and become climate neutral. That is not the opinion of the CDU and CSU. The Union is the party of the social market economy, it is counting on unleashing economic dynamism and reducing bureaucracy. If the economy is now stalled with tax increases, the future government will not be able to afford many climate policy measures.

The green candidate for Chancellor Annalena Baerbock attacked Laschet sharply. "We do not believe that bans are innovation drivers," said Laschet, referring to one of her more recent statements. And: It would be "counterproductive for the climate" if you get out of combustion technology prematurely, so Laschet continues with a view to another. Without economic prosperity and solid state finances, it will not be possible to achieve the climate policy goals either.

Merz warned against making mistakes similar to those made when phasing out nuclear energy when discussing future drive technologies for cars: “We are already lacking the possibilities of continuing with nuclear energy. There are no more researchers, no more managers who are familiar with this technology. ”If one now decides to ban the combustion engine, then“ we will also lose the skills for this technology ”.

Merz did not want to interpret the difficult situation of the Union, which in opinion polls stagnates at 22 percent. “I don't do analyzes until the result is certain.” The mood in the population is currently changing and he mistrusts the survey results. In the end it could be that the Union “with 24.3 percent” will become the strongest parliamentary group. That would be half of what the CDU would have got in the 1976 federal election. "That's how crazy the world is."