In the public eye, Friedrich Merz is afflicted with a few clichés. In an interview with the magazine “BUNTE”, the CDU chairman, for example, comments on the prejudice that he is not a womanizer – but a macho.
“Family, friends and everyone who knows me from work or politics just shake their heads at such distorted images,” said Merz to “BUNTE”. “I have always enjoyed working with women on an equal footing. Equality was and is a very important concern for me, especially as CDU chairman and parliamentary group chairman. We won’t win any more elections without women.” Merz countered the accusation that he was too rich, that a millionaire was too aloof to lead Germany, as follows: “Whether someone is suitable for taking on political responsibility, that depends not from the wallet, but from the individual skills. I think it’s always better to be financially independent than to have debts or earn money like a former chancellor with Russian gas companies. I earned every penny myself.”
And about his hobby of flying, which was also criticized, Friedrich Merz says in the “BUNTE” interview: “Flying was always the dream of my youth. As a student, my grades were too bad for my parents to allow me to get my pilot’s license. As a student, a young family man and later a young professional I couldn’t afford it, of course. And then I had to promise my worried wife that I wouldn’t get my pilot’s license until the children were out of the house.”
The original of this post “Friedrich Merz: “Without women we won’t win any more elections”” comes from Bunte.de.
