The CDU leader was also dissatisfied with the procedure for the special assets for the Bundeswehr of 100 billion euros. “To date, not a single new order has been placed and not a single tender has been published,” said Merz. “The way you deal with your own commitments, Mr. Chancellor, and the way you deal with our partners in NATO and the European Union, and rightly so, triggers surprise and considerable distrust.”
Merz also expressed harsh criticism of the government’s energy policy, targeting Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) in particular. In connection with the two stress tests for the German electricity supply, he “deliberately and knowingly deceived the public”. The results “desired” by the ministry leadership were known long in advance, said Merz. The expertise of experts was ignored – “don’t give a damn if it doesn’t correspond to your ideology”.
If the government had reacted to the energy crisis “in good time, consistently and, above all, with the right instruments”, prices would have been higher than before the Ukraine war, said Merz. “But then there would not have been such price swings as we have been seeing for a few months,” he said with conviction.
In this context, Merz reiterated his parliamentary group’s demand to let the remaining three German nuclear power plants run significantly longer than planned by the government. It is necessary to “really exhaust all energy production resources” and “not just those that you would like to have for ideological reasons”.
Overall, Merz accused the Chancellor of having missed an opportunity. Scholz made a “really remarkable government statement” on February 27, three days after the start of the war. With the term “turning point in time”, the chancellor triggered a “great willingness to change” in the country. Here was the opportunity to “break up encrusted structures”, to set new priorities and “to discard old habits”, judged Merz. Instead, however, the government is “still” concerned with the “minor details of your coalition agreement” and is bogged down in “constant arguments” between the ministers.
