Federal election campaign: Olaf Scholz accuses “Fritze Merz” of saying nonsense

Shortly after Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) lost the vote of confidence in the Bundestag, he and opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) exchanged blows. “Fritze Merz likes to tell nonsense,” Scholz replied on ZDF when asked whether a story that the CDU leader had told in the Bundestag debate was true. The Low German term means something like nonsense.

Moderator Christian Sievers was preparing for a debate Bundestag in which Merz accused the Chancellor of having behaved stroppily in the European Council. Accordingly, another head of government asked him at an EU summit to say something – to which the Chancellor replied that the Prime Minister had said nothing either. The Union politician described the situation as “an embarrassment to others”.

Merz reacted angrily in the same broadcast. “I would not allow the Chancellor to refer to me personally and attack me in this way,” said the Union’s candidate for chancellor. “But that’s obviously a pattern we’re seeing now.” Merz gave the example of how Scholz had denied FDP chairman Christian Lindner’s “moral maturity” for a government office in the Bundestag in the afternoon. “He constantly talks about respect,” said Merz. “But the moment someone disagrees with him, his respect just stops. I won’t stoop to that level.”

Merz had previously personally attacked Scholz

Merz’s party colleague Armin Laschet also commented on the television program on X. “With all understanding for Scholz’s frustration on the day of his failure,” wrote Laschet. “To ridicule the competitor’s name is unacceptable. The opposition leader is not the ‘Fritze’ for the Chancellor.” The choice of words destroys all respect among Democrats.

Merz had already personally attacked the Chancellor at the weekend and wrote that Scholz was isolated in the EU. “Unfortunately, you have to put it this way: the majority of European heads of state and government simply no longer feel like meeting the German Chancellor, who either sits in silence for hours or lectures the world,” wrote the Union’s candidate for chancellor in his MerzMail newsletter.

The tone changed greatly within a few days. Last Thursday, Scholz and Merz, alongside the Green Party’s candidate for chancellor Robert Habeck, promised a fair and respectful election campaign. The essence of democracy is to struggle for the best solutions without demeaning or hurting each other, the three said in the program on Pro7.

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A scene with Scholz in the Bundestag also caused irritation: SPD leader Saskia Esken came to a conversation that Scholz had with SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich after the vote on the vote of confidence. The Chancellor looked at her briefly and then walked away from her without comment. In a video of the scene, Esken spreads his hands questioningly.

Scholz reacted to the recording on The former CDU general secretary Paul Ziemiak commented maliciously on the scene on