Countering the Populists Merkel Moves Left to Disarm the Right

Angela Merkel's response to the rise of the far-right AfD is to shift her party further to the left and position herself as the social conscience of the new coalition. But within her party, many have doubts about the strategy.
Angela Merkel has been leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) for 17 years, six months and four days, but she still knows how to surprise her party. Last Saturday she dropped by the annual congress organized by its youth wing, the Junge Union. The younger generation has long seen itself in the vanguard of the CDU's conservative faction, frequently rallying behind politicians who do not see eye to eye with Chancellor Merkel.

At the 2004 congress, Helmut Kohl was given a welcome that suggested he, rather than, Merkel was at the helm of the party ("Who is our idol? - Helmut Kohl"). A year later, the man of the hour was Friedrich Merz, her archrival at the time, who was hellbent on tax reform. This year, the standing ovations were in honor of Jens Spahn, the young state secretary at the Ministry of Finance and the man that many are hoping will spearhead a conservative U-turn within the CDU.

Not surprisingly, there was a rancorous atmosphere when Merkel took to the stage on Saturday morning to field questions from the audience. Was she willing to admit the party had suffered a bitter defeat in the election in late September? Was it not high time she began paying more attention to center-right voters?

Once again, Merkel demonstrated that she is nothing if not flexible when under pressure, and laid out her plan to woo back voters who defected to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) on September 24. The trouble was, her plan was not even remotely what many members of her party want to hear.

The one person who does seriously believe it is Angela Merkel. She talked about the badly paid care workers for the elderly, about families who can't afford affordable housing in Germany's cities. She talked about aging men and women who spent 45 years working only to find their pensions aren't enough to live on.

"These are social issues we need to resolve," she said. "The CDU is sometimes more inclined to focus on the economy and less inclined to consider what it actually means for the individual," she added, in a small swipe at her own party. By the time Merkel left the Congress center in Dresden after about two hours, it had become eminently clear that her response to the rise of the right-wing populist AfDis to shift to the left. - Read More

Countering the PopulistsMerkel Moves Left to Disarm the Right