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Politico (27 November 2020)

By Matthew Karnitschnig

A combative old white man who speaks of gays and pedophiles in the same breath, dismisses gender debates as a waste of time and who can’t stand Angela Merkel could hardly be more out of step with the zeitgeist.

That hasn’t stopped Friedrich Merz from trying to become Germany’s next chancellor. The bigger surprise is that he has an outside chance of succeeding.

A one-time rising star in the Christian Democrats as a protégé of conservative stalwart Wolfgang Schäuble, Merz saw his political ambitions hit a wall in 2002 when Merkel, then already party leader, pushed him aside to take control of the CDU’s parliamentary group.

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