00:00Friedrich Merz promised to weaken the AfD. Instead, it is stronger than ever.
00:04Now the chancellor faces an agonizing dilemma. Stick to the political firewall and risk watching
00:11the AfD grow even further or change course and risk tearing his own party and perhaps his government
00:17apart. Earlier this morning, I spoke to Bela Ander, from 2002 to 2005 chief spokesman for
00:25the federal government under Gerhard Schröder and now head of the PR company and a business
00:29communication. I asked him about the options Friedrich Merz has now and whether he can regain
00:35control of the political narrative. Well, it's going to be very hard for Chancellor Friedrich
00:41Merz to regain control because there's a substantial amount of people within his party
00:49who are now very critical of him and his politics. However, I'd say that 90% at least of the
00:58people
00:58in this party are in favor of keeping a strong distance towards the AfD that has just gained
01:06so much, about 45% of the voters share in the state election of Sachsen-Anhalt. So what can
01:14he do? He can continue on his reform path, which he's set out to do, and try to keep the
01:21coalition
01:21together, which is increasingly difficult because the social democrats are on their own path of
01:29avoiding reforms.
01:31And what is the biggest mistake Merz has made?
01:37Communication is the key, something I always say, and he's done very poorly at communication.
01:44He's acknowledged that himself yesterday when he stood up, when he came after talking to his
01:53colleagues at the CDU, at the CDU Presidium, he came out to journalists and said, well, I got to be
01:58better than this. There's always something journalists hear often and politicians say often, I see this.
02:06That's what he said. But I have to be also more capable of delivering my emotions and people
02:12saying, oh, please don't do this, because Friedrich Merz has shown some emotions, but in the wrong way,
02:20agonizing of arguments brought to him by the normal public. So, but it was clear what he meant. He has
02:27to
02:27deliver in a way that is understood, that the German public understands why the government is
02:34continuing on this reform path. And that is something, the most important thing, basically, that he has to do.
02:41You are a close aide to Gerhard Schröder. If you were in the same position now with Friedrich Merz, what
02:49would you
02:50recommend? What would be your advice to him?
02:55My advice would be, let Friedrich Merz be Friedrich Merz, especially towards the people
03:00around him. And so he has to be more the person that he actually is and not be this person
03:11on one day and
03:12the other on the next day, because that's been sort of also a pattern in the last one and a
03:18half years that
03:18we've seen. While he was in government, he was strong on one topic and then totally changed, flip-flopped
03:25basically, and then was sort of the opposite on the next day when he saw some criticism coming up. So,
03:32keep to
03:33your principles and continue on this reform path, try to explain more, but in forms, in ways that are more
03:42amicable to you than the ones you've chosen in the past.
03:48Okay, thank you so much, Mr. Ender. It was great having you on the show.
03:52Thank you, Stefan.
03:54One of these days, and have a good flight. I heard that you're going to go to the airport now.
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