German Chancellor Friedrich Merz raised eyebrows on Saturday after borrowing an era-defining phrase used by his one-time rival Angela Merkel to insist his government is capable of implementing its much-vaunted package of reforms.
"Wir schaffen das" - German for "We can do it" - was Merkel's famous response to the 2015 migration crisis, when hundreds of thousands of people, many of them Syrian, entered Germany.
At a conference of his Christian Democrats (CDU) in the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern on Saturday, Merz repeated the phrase, this time in the context of upcoming reforms to pensions and health care, the subject of intense negotiations in recent weeks with his coalition partners from the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
Merz said Germany has the strength for the necessary reforms and a fresh start.
"The coalition in Berlin, despite all differences that we have and that will remain, this coalition also has the strength and the necessary unity," he added.
The chancellor touted the government’s plans for digitalization and cutting red tape. He said Germany can become a global pioneer in state-of-the-art climate protection, a country with an efficient infrastructure, reliable trains, fast-flowing data, secure energy supplies and the most capable conventional army in Europe.
“This is no utopia. This is the reality of tomorrow, if we work together and reform this country in such a way that we once again have the chance to lead the way, keep up and excel,” he insisted.
Key elections to come
Merz's visit to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern comes just three months before voters in the state heads to the polls in September, on the same day as a state election in Berlin.
The north-eastern state is expected to see a surge in support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which could even secure an unprecedented majority in nearby Saxony-Anhalt in a separate election two weeks earlier.
At the national level, the anti-immigrant AfD has extended its lead over Merz's conservatives to eight points in the latest poll by INSA.
Merz made it clear that the elections will have implications far beyond Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin.
More is at stake there than just the future of a single region, he explained. “The question is whether we, from the political centre of our country, still have the strength, the will and the determination to tackle and resolve the political problems we face today.”
