Europe is on the brink of another financial crisis, German front-runner Merz warns – POLITICO #NewsGerman

The party had “already made preparations for several scenarios,” he said.

Regardless of the next government’s composition, Merz ruled out a second term in office for Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who is the lead candidate for the Greens and has worked to link economy and climate policy.

“Not only the economic policy of Robert Habeck will not be continued, the structure of this ministry with economy and climate under one roof will also be discontinued,” Merz said. “This construction is a misconstruction from the outset.”

Merz’s vow to put the economy before climate is a significant challenge for a potential CDU-Green coalition, as is Markus Söder — the charismatic and outspoken leader of the Bavarian conservatives — who has long ruled out such an alliance.

There’s also wide variation in their positioning on migration, with Merz vowing to close Germany’s borders on the first day of his tenure and the Greens considering such plans illegal, making a coalition with the center-left SPD — whose leaders have recently taken a tougher stance on tackling illegal migration — more likely.

“The number of people coming to us must be reduced, and quickly,” Merz said. “Many other countries have shown that it can be done. Why shouldn’t it work in Germany?”

Merz told POLITICO he would detain asylum seekers who have been classified as potentially dangerous by the country’s authorities, resume deportations to countries that Germany is not cooperating with to date because they are ruled by extremists such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, and meet other governments to conclude migration agreements, following the example of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.