Sebastian Kurz at “Maischberger”: “We were on the right side,” says Merkel’s opponent

After losing the vote of confidence on Monday, the federal election campaign has finally begun. The incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview with “ZDF” that evening about the Union’s candidate for chancellor: “Fritze Merz likes to tell nonsense”.

Maischberger discussed this statement and the exchange of blows between the candidates for chancellor with her guests on Tuesday evening. It puts the Union’s election program to the test and looks at Austria’s migration policy.

Theo Koll, long-time head of the ZDF capital studio, “Tagesspiegel” journalist Ann-Kathrin Hipp and Stern editor-in-chief Gregor Peter Schmitz comment on the political events at the beginning of the week. The Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst (CDU), reveals how he feels about the debt brake, and the former Austrian Chancellor and entrepreneur Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) explains what he thinks about Angela Merkel (CDU).

“I would have forbidden myself to celebrate.”

In the evening, Scholz “went out to eat or celebrate with a few good friends,” Maischberger throws out at the beginning of the talk show. The long-time head of the ZDF capital studio, Theo Koll, thinks this is “not appropriate because there is little to celebrate for the country.” Europe is not prepared for the approaching Trump presidency. “I would have forbidden myself to celebrate,” is Koll’s verdict.

“I find that somewhat crazy,” agrees Tagesschau journalist Hipp. She would have liked at least “a touch of self-criticism” from Scholz. The explanation from Stern editor-in-chief Gregor Peter Schmitz is: “There has to be a certain amount of auto-suggestion.” Only through this form of self-influence could Scholz start the election campaign confidently.

“Scholz was incapable of self-criticism”

Koll sees Scholz’s comment “Fritze Merz likes to tell nonsense” as an abuse of his role as Chancellor. Scholz “allows himself to be removed from the Chancellery and then rises to the level of an election campaigner,” comments Koll in the aforementioned interview on “ZDF”. In such a situation, the Chancellor should have stopped himself.

“There is a very big difference between what Olaf Scholz says and what he then does himself,” says Hipp and lists where she sees differences between action and action: “prudence, respect, solidarity.”

Scholz’s “team is clearly focused on provoking the other side,” says Schmitz. At the same time, the public has been demanding that Scholz “finally show emotions” for years. That’s why it’s clear: “If he wants to do anything at all, he has to come out of his shell.” Hipp sums up: “I think the fear election campaign that Olaf Scholz is waging is completely wrong.”

“Each generation has to get by with the money it earns”

Maischberger wants to know from NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst where the Union wants to get the money from for the projects in the election program that has just been published. The federal budget “has the potential to pay for the first steps,” answers Wüst vaguely. He refers to citizens’ money, which must be replaced by basic security.

At the same time, “all expenses would be put to the test”. “Fewer employees in the public sector” are also planned, Wüst lists. The Prime Minister is more clear about the debt brake: “Where does the arrogance come from to believe that we have bigger problems today than the next generation?” The traffic light coalitions’ path of “subsidies and bans” is not convincing. That’s why Wüst is convinced of the principle “that every generation gets by with the money it earns.”

“Looking back, I think we were on the right side.”

Maischberger first speaks to the former Austrian Chancellor and entrepreneur Sebastian Kurz about his chancellorship and his relationship with Angela Merkel. “I appreciated every conversation with her,” Kurz says of Merkel, “which doesn’t change the fact that I had a completely different opinion on some crucial issues such as migration policy.”

“When I look back, I think we were on the right side,” says Kurz about Austria’s migration policy. “I believe that 2015 caused a lot of negative things and that we always warned back then that we would not immediately feel the negative consequences.” Now you can see “how schools have changed” both in Vienna and in Germany “Young men walk through the cities demonstrating with anti-Semitic slogans.”

His conclusion is therefore: “I don’t think it’s good”. He is glad that he did his best at the time to “fight against it.” Kurz is certain that a lot of people “simply don’t want to live in societies that are changing in this direction.”