Germany’s Merz Promises to Limit Migration and Restore Growth

(Bloomberg) -- Friedrich Merz, the conservative frontrunner in the German election, vowed to hold course on his disputed plan to limit migration despite public protest and to restore growth to the country’s ailing economy.

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“After three years of mainly green economic policy, we are now faced with the need to re-establish the market economy in our country,” Merz told delegates at the Christian Democratic party convention in Berlin Monday.

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Under his leadership, “we will ask just one question before every decision we make: does this decision serve to strengthen the competitiveness of our industry or does it harm it,” he said. “If it serves competitiveness, we will pass it; if it harms it, we won’t.”

With just 20 days to go, Merz is attempting to pivot back to the economy after his apparent willingness to accept votes from the far-right Alternative for Germany to tightening immigration rules triggered a wide-spread backlash last week. Not only did the legislation fail, but he was also accused of eroding the so-called firewall between the mainstream establishment and the AfD.

More than 160,000 people demonstrated in Berlin on Sunday against the conservatives’ controversial vote in parliament, according to local police. There were also protests outside the CDU’s convention center on Monday, but on a much smaller scale.

“We are being attacked and there are protests against our policies — but right now it is important to stay the course,” the 69-year-old Merz said. “The vast majority of the population agrees with us that our migration policy cannot continue like this.”

But in contrast to last week, Merz avoided any more divisive language on migration and instead focused on the German economy, which has faltered in recent years.

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Merz promised to lower corporate taxes from currently around 30% to 25% by 2029, but once again left open how he wants to finance that.

“This will only be possible in steps, but it should be clear at the beginning of the legislative period that we will achieve this goal,” he said.

Merz made clear that his government will also continue Germany’s shift toward renewable energies, but promised that such moves would be more pragmatic.

“Unlike the populists on the right, we don’t question climate change,” the CDU party leader said. “It is real, it threatens the ecological balance on our planet and a collapse would have unforeseeable, catastrophic consequences for all of us.”

Merz explicitly criticized the exit from nuclear energy by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left government, saying any government under his leadership would embrace new options in this area.

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But after the chaotic debate in parliament last week, where the governing Social Democrats and Greens slammed Merz for voting with the AfD, it will be even harder for the Christian Democrat to find a coalition partner.

“Yes, it may not be easy after the election,” Merz admitted on Monday, reiterating that his bloc wouldn’t cooperate with the AfD in any way. Those comments prompted protesters in the hall to hold up “firewall” signs, though they quickly were removed by security.

But, the CDU chief insisted: “If the polls aren’t too misleading, we will once again become the strongest political force in Germany, and I will then request to be elected chancellor of Germany.”

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