Armin Laschet in Berlin, January 16th.
Photographer: Christian Marquardt / Pool / Bloomberg
Photographer: Christian Marquardt / Pool / Bloomberg
Supporters of the man who could become Germany’s next leader rushed to defend him, after his orthodox foreign policy views raised doubts about his credentials to succeed Angela Merkel.
Merkel’s newly elected Christian Democrat leader Armin Laschet incorrectly tweeted in 2016 that the Obama administration had supported the militant Islamic State in Syria. Two years before, after Laschet, Russia’s incursion into Crimea, criticized a wave of “marketable anti-Putin populism” spreading across Germany.
“I do not agree with those critics who claim that Laschet has an underdeveloped foreign policy profile,” party ally David McAllister, head of the European Parliament’s foreign committee, told reporters on Tuesday. “Armin Laschet has my full support.”
Merkel’s party’s election leader pledges to defend his legacy
As party leader, Laschet holds the pole position to run as a candidate for chancellor in the September election. If he can get the chancellery, he would regularly deal with US President-elect Joe Biden on various security issues, from the Middle East to Russia. After Biden’s victory, Laschet hurried to congratulate him, praising the result as proof that elections can still be won without a populist campaign.
“Armin Laschet is a convinced European and also knows the US,” McAllister said. “Of course, there may be differences of opinion between Europeans and Americans on certain issues.”
The CDU may badly afford another wrong step. The country’s most populous head of state was elected party leader on Saturday after Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, chosen by Merkel as his successor two years ago, withdrew after a series of blunders.
Candidate for Chancellor
Although the party leader is usually the chancellor candidate for the German Conservative bloc, this step is not automatic this time. The Bavarian sister party of the CSU will have a major say in the decision and Markus Soeder, the leader of the Christian Social Union, is currently well advanced in the polls.
And, in fact, the US has little to fear from Laschet, analysts say. Describing Laschet as “no foreign policy expert,” Berenberg’s chief economist Holger Schmieding said he hopes to “continue Merkel’s foreign policy.”
“Laschet defends here continuity with the Merkel government,” McAllister said. “Our American partners can already prepare for it.”
Laschet’s office was not immediately available for comment.