Conservative German opposition leader Friedrich Merz, who leads the Christian Democrats in the CDU, says Europe must be better prepared for a possible Trump victory in the US presidential election in November.
– Kamala Harris has set in motion a very strong mobilization on the Democrats’ side in a very short time. The election campaign will now be very exciting, but Europe must take into account a possible election victory for Trump, he says in an interview with Welt am Sonntag.
Merz says Europeans were not prepared when Trump won in 2016.
– This time it is even more important that we are prepared in the event of a Trump victory. Because I assume that Trump himself will be more prepared if he becomes president, points out Merz.
He confirms to the newspaper Welt am Sonntag that a group from his party was recently in the United States to attend the Republican convention, where Trump was formally nominated as his party’s presidential candidate.
– The USA is a close partner to Germany. It has been clear to all American presidents until now. We should therefore focus on what we have in common with the US rather than what divides us, says Merz.
The latest opinion polls show that Merz and his conservative party are far ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Social Democrats in the SPD. Merz thus has a good chance of becoming chancellor himself in September next year.
Scholz became chancellor in 2021 in a coalition with the Greens and the liberal party FDP.
The CDU is a sister party to the Bavarian CSU. Here, the party leader Markus Söder is a potential chancellor candidate, just like Merz.
The decision on a conservative chancellor candidate from one of the two parties is expected to be made late in the summer on the basis of discussions in the parties’ leadership and in the states.
/ritzau/dpa
Source: www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk
