Row at the chancellery: Merz reportedly accused Schwesig of destroying the centre
According to Der Spiegel, Merz confronted the SPD state premier after the election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Schwesig called it outrageous and walked off. Berlin won't comment.
Archive image · Photo: Dr. Frank Gaeth / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Shortly after the state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in late September, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and state premier Manuela Schwesig (SPD) reportedly clashed sharply at the chancellery. According to Der Spiegel and Tagesspiegel, Merz accused her of campaigning against him and said: "You have destroyed the democratic centre." Government sources in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania confirmed the scene to Tagesspiegel.
Schwesig rejected the accusations and, according to Der Spiegel, left the chancellor standing. "That is no way to deal with each other objectively. I won't put up with it, neither as state premier nor as a woman," she told Der Spiegel. Government spokesman Stefan Kornelius neither confirmed nor denied the exchange, saying the chancellor respects the confidentiality of one-on-one talks.
In the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania election, the SPD won 35.5 percent while the CDU failed to clear the five-percent threshold. The report comes amid growing tensions within the conservative-Social Democrat coalition. The CDU's executive committee meets on Sunday and Monday to discuss the party's situation.