Germany’s Christian Democrats (CDU) hosted a large reception in honor of former Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. Numerous prominent guests attended the event on Wednesday, including CSU leader Markus Söder, who had presented Merkel with the Bavarian Order of Merit last fall. The evening celebrated Merkel’s 70th birthday, which technically was this past July, reports Junge Freiheit.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz, who took over the CDU/CSU parliamentary group chairmanship in 2002, gave the keynote speech and even personally picked up Merkel and her husband Wolfgang Sauer at the entrance to lead them into the ballroom.
Despite praising the former chancellor as a “personality who has shaped the country,” the CDU chairman slipped in a pointed jab, adding that politicians cannot foresee all the consequences of their decisions and only historians can “know better” later in hindsight.
Merkel, whose migration policy was rejected by more than 70 percent of Germans, congratulated Merz on his candidacy for chancellor, wishing him “much success for the Union as a whole and for our country.”
The rival Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has contended that a recently rebranded CDU, which claims it will be tough on immigration, is actually running a clever ruse against the German population. Notably, the CDU has established a “firewall” against the only party truly looking to restrict immigration.
Earlier this month, AfD co-chairman Alice Weidel made a speech where she attacked the CDU and specifically singled out Merkel.
“And then came a CDU chancellor (Angela Merkel). Nine years ago, this chancellor wiped away this existing law with the stroke of a pen and established a reign of injustice that is destroying Germany.
That’s why everything the CDU is telling you today and Mr. Merz will be telling you later is rubbish. Incidentally, we see the CDU’s realpolitik in Berlin. Here in CDU-governed Berlin, the number of naturalization is exploding. There are hardly any rejections of naturalization applications. 60% more naturalizations in Berlin in the first eight months of this year than the entire previous year.”
