Friedrich Merz at the party convention of the Christian Democratic Union in Hamburg, Germany. File photoBERLIN, Jan 22Friedrich Merz was elected the new chairman of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), with 95% of the vote cast for him at the online congress. The live broadcast of the voting was conducted by the Phoenix TV channel. In his election speech, Merz severely attacked German Chancellor, Social Democrat Olaf Scholz. He accused him of virtual inaction amid the security crisis in Europe. According to Merz, the head of government has not yet made a visit to either Moscow or Washington, while any of his predecessors, starting from the mid-1970s, would have actively participated in the international settlement, put forward initiatives and communicate with international partners.
Zakharova compared the material about the head of the CDU with World War II propagandaMerz became the third chairman of the CDU after Angela Merkel stepped down as party leader in 2018 after 18 years of work. Merz twice tried to become chairman of the CDU, but lost to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in December 2018 and Armin Laschet in January last year. In December, his candidacy for party chairmanship was approved following the results of the first member poll in the history of the CDU. He replaced Laschet, under whose leadership the German conservatives were defeated for the first time in 16 years in the elections to the German Bundestag in 2021. The new leader of the CDU has a difficult relationship with Merkel. According to the German media, she did not accept Merz's invitation to dinner, refused to meet with him and the ex-Chancellor's protégé, former CDU chairman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. As reported by the dpa agency, Merkel also rejected the idea of taking the post of honorary chairman of the party. The former head of the CDU faction in parliament, who left politics not least because of disagreements with the ex-chancellor, Merz was actively involved in business, worked as a lobbyist in large companies and concerns in Germany . Since 2018, he has returned to the political arena.
CDU leader Laschet announced his resignation as head of the party
