Conservative Merz vows to ‘lead Germany forward’ amid huge backlash

Friedrich Merz, the favourite to become Germany’s next chancellor, said on Monday he is ready to “lead Germany forward” as his conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) assembled in Berlin for a party conference three weeks before national elections.

“We are ready to lead Germany forward again,” said Merz, pledging to “get to work without delay and tackle the root causes of the problems that have paralysed [Germany] for so long.”

While Merz’s opposition CDU/CSU alliance is leading in the polls for the vote on February 23 on around 30%, he has since ignited a firestorm when using far-right votes to push through a motion in parliament last week calling for stricter migration rules.

Polls conducted after Merz broke this long-standing taboo in German politics are yet to be released.

The 69-year-old received thunderous applause from delegates at the conference in Berlin, who unanimously agreed on an “immediate action programme” to be implemented should the conservatives win, including controversial measures on reforming migration laws and boosting Germany’s struggling economy.

Outrage over far-right support

Merz’s party has received huge criticism in recent days after passing a motion in the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament, with votes from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

Critics accuse Merz of breaking the long-standing “firewall” preventing cooperation with the AfD, after his non-binding plan to tackle illegal migration secured a narrow majority on Wednesday thanks to the far-right party’s support.

Another migration bill introduced by the conservatives narrowly failed to secure a majority in parliament on Friday, as a handful of lawmakers from the CDU did not cast their votes.

Protests against Merz’s move have broken out across Germany, with organizers claiming up to 250,000 in attendance at a major march in Berlin on Sunday.

Further demonstrations took place on Monday outside the CDU’s conference centre in western Berlin, with police reporting some 450 protestors.

Merz again rejects working with AfD

In his speech on Monday, Merz again ruled out working with the AfD.

“There will be no cooperation, there will be no tolerance, there will be no minority government, nothing,” he told delegates, without directly referencing last week’s vote.

As Merz was speaking, several Greenpeace activists in the audience held up individual letters to read “firewall.”

Securtity staff tried to stop the action and then escorted the activists out of the hall.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz also attacked the CDU/CSU on Monday, arguing that the centre-right bloc has failed to agree to legislation reforming asylum laws and granting security services additional powers.

The CDU/CSU is “endangering internal security,” Scholz said in Brussels at a summit of EU leaders.

“These laws restricting illegal migration and improving internal security must be approved before the election,” he added.

CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann rejected the criticism in a speech to delegates, arguing that Scholz’s coalition was “the worst federal government of all time.”

“We do not let anyone tell us who was on the right side of history. It was us,” Linnemann added.

Bavarian Premier Markus Söder said only the CDU/CSU alliance can stem the growth of the AfD.

“We must not leave our country to the AfD,” said Söder, whose Bavaria-only Christian Social Union (CSU) is in alliance with the CDU at the national level.

He insisted that the firewall had not breached. “We keep saying no, no, no to any form of cooperation with the AfD,” Söder said.

Merz outlines economic policy

Merz spent much of his speech on economic policy, another major theme dominating voters’ concerns ahead of the election.

German gross domestic product, an indicator often used to measure economic performance, declined for the second year in a row in 2024, with the government only expecting minimal growth this year.

The conservative leader slammed the economic and energy policy by the current centre-left government, claiming that continuing on the same path “would destroy the core of our economy.”

Merz promised a change of course to improve competitiveness should his conservative bloc win the election, vowing to slash red tape both at national and EU level.

He also noted the importance of fighting climate change, promising to do so by relying on technological solutions instead of “apocalyptic horror scenarios.” A controversial heating law passed by the current government to shift household heating from gas to renewables to meet ambitious climate targets is to be abolished, Merz said.

Merz also rejected demands for a four-day working week and called for fundamendal reform of unemployment benefits.