German Chancellor Candidates Clash – Scholz’s Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds + Video

With the televised debate between Olaf Scholz and Friedrich Merz, the German election campaign has entered its final stretch. Hunor Both, chief analyst at Szazadveg, told Magyar Nemzet that Scholz demonstrated the Left’s hypocrisy and dodged important questions.

Fotó: dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP Forrás: dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP/09 February 2025, Berlin: Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD, l) stands next to Friedrich Merz, CDU candidate for chancellor and CDU federal chairman, before the ARD and ZDF TV duel. In 90 minutes in the Berlin-Adlershof stud

The collapse of the Scholz government and the upcoming snap elections in two weeks may have been triggered by a coalition crisis, but they ultimately reflect a deeper issue: Germany has been governed against the interests and will of its people in recent years. And voters have had enough. This was evident in the catastrophic state election results for Scholz’s party, said Hunor Both, commenting on the TV debate between Chancellor Olaf Scholz the Christian Democrats' top candidate Friedrich Merz .

Sparks fly at the first German chancellor candidates' debate between Olaf Scholz and Friedrich Merz (Photo: dpa Picture-Alliance via AFP)

According to the expert, the Scholz government has made decisions against the will of the people on key issues such as war and peace, migration, energy policy and the economy.

Scholz and the German Social Democrats’ hypocrisy was exposed when, after yet another migrant-perpetrated terrorist attack in Aschaffenburg that claimed the life of a small child, Scholz declared he had had "enough." Yet, at the same time, his government continues to support the dangerous EU migration pact and refuses to back the CDU candidate’s proposal to regulate migration,

Both highlighted. He also pointed out that the German and Brussels leftists continue to push the migration pact despite the fact that last year’s terrorist attacks in Germany were committed by migrant extremists who should have already been deported, which the authorities had failed to do. "It's no wonder that illegal migration was the main topic of the election campaign and the debate," he added.

During the debate, Scholz could only offer weak excuses on the matter, while Merz stated that after the recent deadly knife attack in Aschaffenburg, his conscience would not allow him to ignore the issue, which is why he introduced a migration reform bill. Merz emphasized that honoring the memory of victims is just as important as ideological debates. 

The other major topic was the economy. Scholz blamed Putin for Germany’s economic struggles but refused to acknowledge the consequences of his own government’s poor economic decisions.

If opinion polls are to be believed, a major right-wing victory is expected in two weeks, and Germany may finally have a chancellor who listens to the people's demands regarding migration and the economy. Not to mention that the so-called "radical right-wing" and staunchly anti-migration AfD stands at 21%—5% higher than the Social Democrats (SPD),

Both Hunor argued that these developments prove that EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European People's Party leader Manfred Weber, Olaf Scholz and the other left-wing politicians are mistaken if they still believe they have strong public support. "Because they really don’t anymore. The reality is that people want change, they want honest politics, and they expect their interests to be represented—all things that Olaf Scholz has failed at," he declared.

The will of the people, according to Both, is entirely at odds with the policies of European leaders, as Szazadveg’s 2024 Europe Project survey shows. When participants were asked whether they agree with the new migration pact, nearly 60% of German respondents said no. Moreover, 77% of Germans surveyed said they would prefer to see stricter border controls.

Cover Photo: Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) candidate Friedrich Merz face off in German public media (Photo: AFP).