Markus Lanz (ZDF) etches against Armin Laschet – important topics not on the radar

Markus Lanz (ZDF) speaks with his guests about possible difficulties and opportunities in the coalition negotiations.

Berlin – The first edition of Markus Lanz’s talk show on ZDF after the federal election in 2021 was about the upcoming coalition negotiations on Tuesday (September 28th, 2021). The SPD general secretary Lars Klingbeil, the FDP politician Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Herbert Reul from the CDU and once again world journalist Robin Alexander, discussed lessons from the election campaign, internal party dispute and red lines in terms of content was a guest on the last Lanz show.

The memory of the coalition negotiations in 2017 determined the ideas in which mode they should take place in the next few weeks. Instead of meetings in the focus of media coverage, with photos during breaks and live support on Twitter, Klingbeil in particular promoted confidential negotiations, with the rest of those present agreeing to him.

Markus Lanz (ZDF) points out Armin Laschet’s bad style

There was less agreement on the issue of campaign etiquette. For Klingbeil, Armin Laschet’s failure to congratulate Olaf Scholz on the best result was a faux pas. Alexander tried to put this into perspective by pointing out that Laschet had congratulated all parties that increased their share of the vote.

Strack-Zimmermann humorously resolved the discussion by congratulating Markus Lanz, who stubbornly pointed out Laschet’s bad style on this issue, on winning the German TV Prize. So this part of the show came a little short, because apart from questions of style, one could also have talked in more detail about Laschet’s tactical reasons for this omission and whether a congratulation would have been an admission of defeat.

That in turn would be understandable in view of Laschet’s fragile position in his own party. Because even on the question of the parliamentary group chairmanship of the CDU, the candidate for chancellor was only able to negotiate a compromise solution with the suggestion that the post should initially only be filled for six months. This shows the weak position in their own party, but also that in the Union currently “fighting is almost on the open stage,” said Robin Alexander.

Markus Lanz (ZDF): It’s quiet

Agnes Strack-Zimmermann took Laschet’s side when she described Markus Söder’s political maneuvers as “shabby”. With regard to the political climate in Germany, Lars Klingbeil cited the negative example of the USA, where there is a real hatred between the camps of the Democrats and the Republicans. In comparison, the way things are treated in this country is moderate and, despite the sometimes sharp tones in the election campaign, it should now be about “togetherness”, with which General Secretary Olaf Scholz’s tireless pleading for more social respect paraphrased.

Also in the show Markus Lanz (ZDF) things were unusually calm after the verbal brawls of the last few weeks. In addition to intelligent and sometimes self-critical contributions from the three politicians, there have even been mutual expressions of respect to be heard. Robin Alexander was able to intensify the cautious discussions in the meantime through his analyzes, as in his assessment that the leading figures of the FDP as well as the Greens are more inclined to the Union. That evening was obviously not enough for Markus Lanz.

When the second half of the program dealt with the mistakes of Laschet and his party in the election campaign, the moderator showed a aggressiveness that one could think that he wanted to apply for the post as the next general secretary of the SPD. Lanz pushed Reul into the corner by saying that the CDU had not been renewed in terms of content and that Laschet had not managed to set topics, while these were always clear at Scholz. There were buzzwords of “unleashing” under which he could only imagine “escape artists” and the important issues of large parts of the population, such as climate change, were not on the radar.

Markus Lanz (ZDF): Contentless policy of the CDU

Robin Alexander agreed with this insofar as he also located the contentless policy of the CDU in the grand coalition in which the CDU had primarily pushed through the issues of the SPD (minimum wage, marriage for all).

Afterwards, Markus Lanz wanted to check out a few more topics on ZDF that could lead to disputes in the coalition negotiations: the procurement of armed drones or the sometimes conflicting tax programs of the three parties. While the three politicians withdrew to the positions from the respective election programs and at the same time emphasized that success or failure cannot be deduced in advance from individual points, a comment by the world journalist cast doubts about the principles in the election programs.

For example, the coalition negotiations with the FDP are a welcome opportunity for Olaf Scholz to free himself from the “nonsense of the SPD program” and the much-cited red lines are therefore a lot more flexible than Lanz’s insistence on them would suggest. (Jendrik Walendy)