Germany is scheduled to elect the Federal Parliament on the 24th, and there is not much suspense about the outcome. Opinion polls show that the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led by current Chancellor Angela Merkel, will win, leaving only the choice of which party to govern with.
The televised campaign debate on the evening of the 3rd further established this impression: Merkel’s “war of words” with her main rival, Social Democratic Chancellor candidate Martin Schulz, is not “a war of words”
Wonderful", her performance can be described as "stable", and she won the victory without too much effort.
Since entering politics, Merkel has never been the "best debater" material. So where does she win?
The BBC commented that Merkel has worked as prime minister for 12 years, which was clearly demonstrated in the debate. The website of German magazine Der Spiegel praised Merkel's personal "best debate performance" this time. However, this conclusion is based on her apparent defeat in the previous three debates.
A lot of this debate focused on immigration. Merkel has been criticized by the domestic right-wing camp for her open attitude towards immigrants and refugees. Schulz also caught one point during the debate: Merkel opened the borders without consulting other EU partners to accept refugees who were rejected by Hungary and other Eastern European countries.
However, Schultz, who belongs to the center-left camp, does not have much difference with Merkel in his general principles on the refugee issue. He himself once said: Every immigrant comes with trust in Europe, which is more precious than gold.
Schultz emphasized "social justice" during the campaign. On the evening of the 3rd, he also tried to focus on this issue, talking about unemployment and the poor, but was easily repelled by Merkel.
The eye-catching economic data provided Merkel with ammunition to refute: when she began her first term as chancellor, 5 million Germans were unemployed, and now there are only 2.5 million, less than half. As for the issue of social security, Germany's current social security policy is based on the "Harz 4" relief fund reform launched by Social Democratic Prime Minister Schroeder when he came to power.
On economic issues, the Social Democrats under Schulz also promised to reduce tax rates, but Merkel's Christian Democrats also proposed similar measures.
What widens the gap slightly is foreign policy. Schultz took an aggressive stance and criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for repeatedly pushing the world to the brink of disaster with his "Twitter" remarks, saying that the world should consider leaving the United States aside and finding a way out for the Korean Peninsula issue; he also said If he were the German Chancellor, he would immediately terminate Turkey's EU accession negotiations.
Merkel was cautious about the option of "breaking off negotiations" at first, but she later added that she would discuss with other EU leaders whether they could reach an agreement on this.
Although Merkel has expressed more than once that Europe should think about "what to do without the United States", she still emphasized that she would discuss the North Korean nuclear issue with the leaders of relevant countries, including the President of the United States.
Winning or losing the political power is related to many factors, which cannot be explained in a few words.