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Los geht’s!
Clash of the Titans
On Sunday evening Olaf Scholz faced off against Friedrich Merz in the first TV debate between the main chancellor candidates.
In an increasingly fragmented party system there was a lot of criticism of this one-on-one format in the build-up. Members of other parties complained that it was outdated and failed to reflect the fact that four different parties have put up chancellor candidates.
Personally, I think the duel is more focused than four-way debates, which tend to end in each candidate reciting their talking points. Ultimately, it was a case of the main challenger against the sitting candidate. There will be other contests in the coming days in which the AfD and Greens also get a chance to talk.
I thought Scholz had a good debate given the government record he has to defend. Whatever else people want to throw at him, Scholz is a master of small details. While Merz recited the same numbers he has been using on the campaign trail (300,000 industry jobs lost in 3 years), Scholz gives the impression that he is calculating, in real time, how a percentage point increase in inflation is going to affect next year's budget.