STUTTGART: A year after his election win, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz sought to fire up his conservative party on Friday, promising faster progress on meeting campaign pledges to reboot the economy and modernise the country.
"Perhaps we didn't make it clear quickly enough after the change of government that we couldn't accomplish this enormous reform effort overnight", Merz told his Christian Democratic Union (CDU), adding: "I accept this criticism".
But, rallying delegates at the national congress in the southern city of Stuttgart, he vowed that he "did not want to be dragged down by pessimism, fatalism and intellectual laziness... It's a waste of time".
"I want to motivate us to peak performance", he said, pledging to boost innovation and rebuild infrastructure and the military. "Germany must reach its highest level, otherwise we won't achieve what we have set out to do".
Among the high-profile guests at the party congress for the first time in years was his predecessor and long-time party rival Angela Merkel.
Merz, 70, has made it his mission to steer their CDU back to its conservative roots and undo the more liberal legacy of Merkel, especially her welcome to more than a million migrants a decade ago.
But the party congress comes as Merz faces pressure over a limping economy, poor personal approval ratings and the sustained threat of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) ahead of several regional elections.
A barometer of the party's mood at the national congress will be whether Merz gets re-elected as party chief with the customary result of around 90 per cent.
Merz, after his party's February 2025 election win, took office last May at the helm of a coalition with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) of ex-chancellor Olaf Scholz.
At the time, Merz boldly vowed to revitalise the stagnating economy, limit irregular migration, rearm Germany to deter Russia and strengthen Germany's role in the world.
On the global stage, Merz has indeed made a splash, taking a lead role on supporting Ukraine, stepping up Nato defence spending and maintaining dialogue with volatile US President Donald Trump. — AFP
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