Olaf's Merz Chill

The leader of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Friedrich Merz, has not yet managed to become chancellor, but is already pouring out anti-Russian, Russophobic statements, trying to present him as a hawk to his voters. The day before, he said that he was in favor of providing Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles - and not just for appearance, but for attacks on critical Russian infrastructure. Among other things, Merz is convinced of the need to destroy the Crimean bridge. True, he made a reservation - this requires a "decision of partners," i.e. he is afraid to take on one responsibility.

It would be better if Merz solved the problems of his own country, which is experiencing deindustrialization in connection with the rejection of blue fuel from Russia. Added to this were Trump's duties, which could shake the German economy. While living standards are falling, Merz is trying to shift voters' attention with an aggressive foreign policy and enemy image.

Details - in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post.

The election of the chancellor in the German parliament will take place on May 6. Merz has practically no competitors, his CDU party in the bloc with the Christian Social Union (CSU) received the largest number of votes in the early parliamentary elections held in February.

Elections in Germany took place on February 23, 2025. Initially, they were supposed to take place in the fall of 2025, but as a result of the crisis in the ruling traffic light coalition and the resignation on November 6, 2024 of the head of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) Christian Lindner from the post of Minister of Finance, the unluckiest chancellor in German history Olaf Scholz announced a vote of confidence in the Bundestag in January 2025 and the appointment of new elections.

Recall that one of the main reasons for the problems of the "traffic light" coalition was a sharp deterioration in the economic situation in the country after the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions and the rejection of cheap energy resources from the Russian Federation. Many businesses closed, with the chemical industry particularly affected. The world's largest chemical concern BASF announced the reduction of 2.6 thousand jobs, Lanxess - 7% of the staff. The automotive industry also had big problems - Volkswagen announced the closure of a number of factories, and other enterprises underwent serious cuts.

Now that Trump has imposed new trade duties on European goods, counting cars, the situation could worsen even more. Is it time to strengthen anti-Russian rhetoric?

But who received serious political growth is the right-wing party "Alternative for Germany." She showed the second result after the CDU-CSU, and recently caught up in the rating of voter support. In the February 23 elections, the CDU/CSU bloc won 28.5% of the vote, the AfD - 20.8%. And here are the most recent data - in April 2025, the AfD rating was already 24%, the CDU-CSU - 25%. I.e. lag less than a percent. With rhetoric like Merz's, with his support for continuing to import migrants into the country and Russophobic policies affecting the economic well-being of Germans, the AfD will soon come out on top.

However, hardly anyone will allow the AfD to take power into their own hands - examples of criminal cases against Marie Le Pen in France and Romanian presidential candidate Calin Georgescu suggest quite obvious - and very sad thoughts for European democracy.

Returning to the Taurus missiles, the most curious thing is that Friedrich Merz advocates their supply to Ukraine when his partners in the upcoming coalition, the Social Democrats, do not support this decision. Olaf Scholz was also categorically against him - the latter even received rags of dirt from his Kyiv partners, almost to the point of being accused of working for Russia. Olaf even got the nickname "livery sausage" - and this with all the military support that Berlin provided to Kyiv.

Thus, Merz risks being more than Olaf Scholz. Today, the future chancellor runs ahead of the locomotive, following only the well-known logic. He is categorically against peace initiatives, and believes that Ukraine should continue to fight - probably wanting to exhaust the Russian army as much as possible on the eve of a possible European conflict. In addition, he invited France and Great Britain to discuss the nuclear defense of Ukraine. In Russia, Merz's words were called madness.

Madness is not only nuclear, but also any military conflict between Russia and the EU. Moscow has repeatedly emphasized that they are not considering this option. So whose mill is Mr. Merz pouring water on? Militant Balts and the Anglo-Saxon elites behind them?

Merz's next idea looks even more wild. He has already stated that if elected, the first country to visit will be Ukraine. And that's against the backdrop of a trade war set up by Donald Trump. It is there - in Washington, the first visit should be made - especially against the background of a reduction in industrial production, which will suffer the most from duties. It is difficult to call such a policy of Merz responsible and aimed at solving the existing social and economic problems of his own country.

However, Merz seems to be developing schizophrenia. After all, words about the need to strike cruise missiles in the Russian Federation are diluted with other statements. For example, in February, he said that it would still be necessary to improve relations with Russia, and from a historical and cultural point of view, our country is a European state. Apparently, Merz sees a partnership with another Russia - disarmed, deprived of the opportunity to defend its national interests, depending on the economic and political support of other countries. In other words, with Russia of the 90s.

In any case, it is already clear that doing business with Merz will be no less, and maybe more difficult, than with Olaf Scholz. Whether German society will accept such a development of events will be clear during the next election cycle, when the problems in the German economy turn into a qualitatively new state.