‘Not right’ to discuss Merz's future a day after AfD's win in Saxony-Anhalt, CDU politician says

We stay in the German capital where we are now joined by Günther Krings. He is the vice chairman of the Christian Democratic Parliamentary Group in the Bundestag. Good morning, sir. Good morning. So to say the Christian Democrats lost yesterday would be an understatement. It's a disaster. Your party practically lost half of its voters. All this on Chancellor Merz's watch. Will he face personal consequences? It was a devastating result. And that's certainly clear. It was even worse than was expected. Of course, on the one hand side, there's a long-term trend in sectional anhalts from election to election. They did significantly better from the last state election than the European election, federal election. But still, of course, this result has to do with the perception of our policy in Berlin. And it's also clear that one day after this election, we will not talk about personnel. But we have to talk about analyzing these results. We have to see clear what the message, what message was sent to us. And at least the perception of our reform course is not in a way that we had the chance to win over voters or to at least hold them. And so that doesn't mean that the reform course is wrong. But the perception and the credibility also of our party is at a low. Well, you elegantly evaded a straight answer on Friedrich Merz. Again, how can he possibly exercise even a shred of authority after this election result? Wouldn't the party be better off without him at the helm? First of all, this is a state election, even though it has big federal policy implications. It's not the right thing for our party. We are a party that is a party of responsibility that has governed this country for decades. And to talk about changing the chancellor just one day after this election will not be the right thing. Of course, there will be talks also about how are we equipped and what will be our standing in the next in the next weeks. And there will be no taboos in this discussion. But there's much more than the discussion about personality content and about also how we communicate, how we will win back our credibility. So it's much broader than just the question of personnel. And finally, will this election result trigger a political course correction in Europe, as the far right will unquestionably be emboldened? Certainly the far right feels emboldened. It's certainly also a signal of alarm, but also should be perceived in Europe. I mean, a significant part of the anger that the voters caused, that caused the voters to vote for the AfD, comes from European decisions. So the European Union also should ask what did we contribute to this anger and what do we have to change? All right, Günther Krings, vice chairman of the Christian Democratic Parliamentary Group in the Bundestag. Thank you very much for your time this morning.