On Sunday, February 23, early parliamentary elections shall be held in Germany. In response to information pollsamong the many events collaborating in them, 4 will certainly overcome the 5 p.c barrier and can go to the brand new composition of the Bundestag. 29-30percentof voters are able to vote for Christian democrats (CDS/CSS), the ultra-right different for Germany (ADG) is gaining 20-21%, social democrats (SDPG) can depend on 15-16%, and green-by 13%. Not one of the political forces have an absolute majority: on this case, the top of the celebration, as a rule, turns into the top of the celebration, which gained the biggest variety of votes and main within the authorities coalition. Medusa talks about 4 candidates who’ve essentially the most likelihood to turn into a chancellor, and their election applications.
Friedrich Mertz
The most certainly candidate for chancellors is the 69-year-old chief of the CDU/CSS Friedrich Mertz. Catholic and an exemplary household man, likes to fly on personal plane, however on the similar time He thinks himself a consultant of the center class. Behaves impulsively and shocks the viewers with caustic, for which it’s typically known as “German Trump.”
In politics, he has been greater than half a century, however within the celebration for a few years he remained within the shadow of his primary rival – Angels Merkel. Having suffered quite a lot of failures within the {hardware} wrestle, Mertz in 2009 left politics to enterprise, however a decade later returned, and in 2022 he was triumphantly elected the top of Christian deputies – on the celebration congress, 94.6% of delegates voted for him.
Beneath the management of the Mercnes, the celebration of Christian democrats shifted to extra proper positions in comparison with the Merkel period. The variations are most blatant within the query of migrants. In 2015, when the federal government Merkel launched about 1,000,000 Syrian refugees to Germany, Mertz insisted on tightening the foundations for receiving asylum, and later claimed that “Islam was not a part of Germany.” At the moment he’s declaresthat within the migration sphere in Germany “chaos reigns,” and requires fast deportation of unlawful immigrants.
Within the financial sphere, Merz acts with the slogans fairly acquainted to Christian democrats – he proposes to resolve the issues of German by decreasing the discount of social bills and rising taxes for firms. And the vitality disaster, which started after refusing the purchases of Russian fuel in 2022, he intends to beat by returning to atomic vitality – by the way in which, Germany refused it at Merkel, after the catastrophe on the nuclear energy plant in Fukushima in 2011.
In international coverage, Mertz insists on persevering with the assist of Ukraine – in December he got here to Kyiv, and in January met with the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky in Davos. The chief of the CDU/CSS guarantees that if he turns into a chancellor, he’ll permit the availability of Taurus lengthy -range APU and protect sanction strain on Russia. In his opinion, Ukraine ought to conclude peace from the “place of energy”, and after the top of hostilities it will likely be capable of be part of the EU, however on a standard foundation. On the similar time, Mertz prefers to not speak about her accession to NATO.
Olaf Sholts
The possibilities of the present German Chancellor to keep up a ghostly place – his celebration goes to the third in polls and at finest will have the ability to enter the coalition on the rights of a youthful accomplice. On this scenario, Sholts is unlikely to stay in energy: he’s already declaredthat won’t work below the management of the chief of Christian democrats.
SHOLTS three years youthful than the hazel. In nature, two politicians differ as ice and flame-the head of the Social Democrats is closed, dry in communication and does not likely know the best way to set up contacts, for which he’s known as a “Scholzomat” within the German press.
Throughout his keep within the energy, Sholts set a document – his workplace turned Probably the most unpopular within the historical past of Germany, and the share of those that in polls expressed satisfaction with the work of the chancellor, Falled From 60% on the finish of 2021 to just a little greater than 20% in January 2025. On the similar time, the Chancellor of Scholyts was for a really tough interval – when he headed the workplace, Germany had not but absolutely coped with the implications of the Pandemia of the Coronavirus, and fewer than three months after his took workplace, Russia’s full -scale invasion of Ukraine started.
Nevertheless, on the finish of November 2024, low scores didn’t stop Sholtsu from re-election to the put up of head of the SDPG, and he himself didn’t think about his rule to be a failure in any respect. He has emphasised on social achievements of current years – the coalition he headed raised a minimal wage of as much as 12 euros per hour and elevated unemployment advantages and pensions. Subsequently, regardless of the adversarial forecasts, the chancellor doesn’t lose optimism and hopes to assist these voters who put the social agenda on the forefront. He gives them an extra enhance in salaries and social funds, in addition to a lower in taxes from the poor.
In response to the acute problem of migrants, Scholz speaks rigorously and considers the closure of borders a mistake, as it will deprive the financial system of the circulate of labor.
In a international coverage, Scholz tried to behave as a “chancellor of the world” and even talked On the telephone with Putin final November, however this didn’t add recognition to him. The Chancellor believes that Ukraine wants to assist additional, however he doesn’t need to suppose out the identical Taurus missiles to the APU.
Alisa Vaidel
The Chancellor Chancellors from the ADG of 45-year-old Alice Weidel has much less expertise in politics than her rivals from the CDU/CSS and SDPG. She started her profession as an economist and entered the extremely -right celebration in 2013. 4 years later, she first elected to Bundestag, and in 2022 she headed ADG with Tino Khopalla. Arduous and decisive, Vaidel will not be afraid to enter conflicts and sometimes makes sharp, even scandalous ones.
In response to the outcomes of the Sunday elections, ADG will most certainly turn into the second celebration of the nation, however Weidel nonetheless has no likelihood not solely to turn into a chancellor, but additionally to get to the federal government. The actual fact is that not a single celebration within the outcomes can have a parliamentary majority, which signifies that the following workplace will once more be coalition. Nevertheless, in Germany there’s a “firewall”, or “hearth wall” – a precept in keeping with which conventional events just like the CDS/CSS or SDPG can’t enter right into a coalition with the extremely -right ones below any pretext. Subsequently, one can think about in a single workplace of inexperienced, social democrats and Christian democrats, however representatives of the Adg firm will certainly not compose to them.
Vaidel program will not be very unique in economically and in some ways converges what Mertz says. The chief of the ADG calls to cut back taxes and remove bureaucratic wires for small and medium -sized companies, in addition to take measures to make sure the vitality independence of Germany.
However the best way to obtain this? For this, Weidel considers it essential to cancel sanctions in opposition to Russia, To ascertain “Excellent relations” with the Kremlin, which is able to return to the scenario when monumental volumes of Russian fuel had been acquired in Germany. Accordingly, they imagine within the celebration, it’s essential to cease the conflict of Russia in opposition to Ukraine as quickly as potential (which the Adg refused to sentence), and for this – to cease supplying weapons to Kyiv.
The principle level of the Vaidel program is migration. From her viewpoint, one deportation of unlawful immigrants cannot be carried out right here: you must go additional and equip the “upkeep facilities” of migrants close to the borders and on the airports. As well as, Germany ought to withdraw from worldwide agreements defending the rights of migrants, similar to a worldwide settlement on the migration of the UN and the Geneva Conference on Refugees – this shall be simpler to expel from the nation.
Robert Habek
55-year-old Robert Khabek, who managed to work in different areas, is working from the “inexperienced” to the chancellors, he was working in different areas-he is a literary critic and thinker, the writer of kids’s books and prison novels, one in every of which was shot.
He joined the Inexperienced Get together within the 2000s and had managed to go to varied excessive positions over the previous twenty years. He was one of many leaders of his celebration in 2018-2021, and within the “site visitors mild” of the coalition of Sholts he acquired the posts of the vice-chancellor and the Minister of Economics and Local weather Safety. When Germany refused to provide Russian fuel in 2022, it was he who needed to agree on their substitute with different suppliers, for instance, with Qatar.
Habek is charismatic, is aware of the best way to discover compromises and is open to dialogue – beneficial for a high quality coverage. Nevertheless, on condition that, in keeping with surveys, the Inexperienced elections will obtain solely fourth place, he has virtually no likelihood of turning into a chancellor. However within the new coalition workplace, he could nicely obtain a ministerial portfolio once more.
Inexperienced candidate typically Courses Criticism for persevering with to insist on the transition to inexperienced vitality in an acute vitality disaster. In 2023 he Initiated The invoice, in keeping with which accurately from subsequent yr, is a minimum of two -thirds of the vitality consumed by heating techniques in Germany, ought to have been ensured on the expense of renewable sources. In situations of already excessive vitality costs, such plans brought about strict criticism, which considerably undermined the recognition of Habek.
Nonetheless, in his election program The theme of the “inexperienced transition” is anticipated Within the foreground. Habek desires 80% of electrical energy consumed in Germany by 2030 from renewable sources. As for the financial system as a complete, Khabek gives left -wing measures like elevating taxes on rich residents and companies and rising the minimal wage.
The inexperienced chief believes that Germany wants migrants to make up for the dearth of labor, so it’s essential to take measures to combine their speedy integration into German society. In international coverage, Khabek insists on the necessity to additional assist Ukraine, which sooner or later ought to be part of the EU and NATO.
