More politicians attacked overnight, more on Merz's CDU, and Dortmund are going to Wembley
Wednesday 8th May
Good morning. Today’s briefing covers reports from Süddeutsche, FAZ and BILD.
Political Violence continues
The top story covered by all the major papers this morning is the news of further attacks on politicians in Berlin and Dresden overnight (see BILD, and the SZ). Franziska Giffey (above), an SPD member of the Berlin Senate and former mayor of the capital, was ‘assaulted from behind with a bag filled with hard contents and hit on the head and neck’ at a library in Rudow in south-east Berlin. Ms. Giffey was taken to hospital with minor injuries, while police are still looking for the perpetrator.In Dresden, an unnamed 47-year-old Green Party politician was attacked by two people while putting up election placards. The two, a 34-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman, were accompanied by a ‘film crew’, as they pushed the victim aside, threatened and spat at her.
These latest incidents follow the assault last week — again, in Dresden — of an SPD candidate for the upcoming EU elections, Matthias Ecke. Mr Ecke was ‘brutally’ attacked by a man who police have confirmed was ‘motivated by the extreme right’, suffering a broken cheek bone.
With the EU elections next month, SPD interior minister Nancy Faeser has promised stronger protections for politicians and their staff, and a crackdown on political violence. Further details about the perpetrators and their motivations, and how each of the major political parties (especially the AfD) react, will be key.
Merz: man of the moment?
This is the question the Frankfurter Allgemeine’s Eckart Lohse asks this morning, following Friedrich Merz’s successful re-election at Monday’s party conference as leader of the CDU, with 90% of the party membership. For Lohse, Merz’s mission is nothing short of rescuing the traditional party-political order in Germany. After three years of flux following the departure of the party’s titanic leader Angela Merkel from politics, the CDU must return to strength in order to challenge the AfD from the right.
Now the next test begins for the CDU leader. Will his supporters accept the fact that their outspoken leader will gradually have to become more like Merkel for the sake of gaining and retaining power? This will be shown by whether the CDU succeeds in fulfilling far-reaching promises — such as the return to compulsory military service with the introduction of a mandatory year of training, or the transfer of asylum seekers to safe third countries — and whether it can win over the broad centre. Merz made it clear that the new basic programme was aimed at swing voters who needed to be won over. If this succeeds, it will also be the next step towards the urgent stabilisation of the party system. The difficult elections this year will provide answers.
As has been written several times in these briefings, note the now-casual reference to a Rwanda-style scheme. Despite its troubles, the Conservatives’ plan has caught the eye of observers in Europe looking for a way to end the drift in migration policy.
‘DORTMUND EROBERT PARIS!’—’Über Paris nach London’
And finally, it would be a grave omission for a newsletter on Germany to not mention last night’s gripping Champions League semi-final at Parc de Princes between Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain, as this is all many of the papers and much of social media will be talking about today. PSG hit the woodwork four times over the course of the game (adding to their two times in the first leg in Dortmund), while Mats Hummels headed home a corner to make the score 2-0 on aggregate. Watch the highlights here, and stay for the reaction of the away corner at full time.
Bayern Munich play their second leg against Real Madrid this evening in a bid to set up an all-German final at Wembley on 1st June. Auf geht’s ihr Roten!