Friedrich Merz, the CDU candidate for chancellor, has reportedly drawn inspiration from the same source as Olaf Scholz, the current chancellor, for his first government speech. According to internal documents from the Chancellery, obtained by the “Stern” magazine, the speech was written by Christian Doktor, the chief speechwriter of the Social Democrat. Merz’s office manager, Jacob Schrot, praised the manuscript, saying: “The script is good.” Doktor was responsible for drafting Scholz’s “Zeitenwende” speech shortly after the outbreak of the Ukraine war, a term he coined. Merz himself had previously praised this Scholz speech.
It is considered unusual that Merz is still relying on his predecessor’s old speechwriting team in the early weeks. So far, he has only brought one speechwriter from the CDU party headquarters to the Chancellery. Quoting from the Chancellery, the “Stern” reports that Merz naturally receives draft speeches from the house, but makes his own speeches out of them.
The Christian Democrat is known for preferring to write large parts of his speeches himself and rewriting manuscripts. It is said that Doktor will leave the Chancellery for the summer.
Former Green Party leader Ricarda Lang, after Merz’s speech, found that he sounded more like Angela Merkel than ever before. On Thursday, Lang told the “Stern”: “With Friedrich Merz and the new government, there is the impression that one must choose between stepping down enthusiastically or being consoling, but rather boring, a bit like Olaf Scholz.”
Lang added: “I believe we need more politicians who passionately stand up for positive visions and the common good.