Brussels - Berlin: Europe and Arabs - Agencies
The election campaign has begun and candidates for the upcoming elections in Germany have officially begun seeking votes after the campaign kicked off on Sunday. The leader of the Christian Democratic Union, Friedrich Merz - who is considered the most likely candidate to succeed Olaf Scholz as Chancellor - gave a speech near Bonn on the occasion of the 149th anniversary of the birth of Konrad Adenauer, the pioneering leader of West Germany after the war, and laid a wreath on his grave in the Rondorf Forest Cemetery. The American magazine Politika said in its European version in Brussels under the title Looking to Northern and Eastern Europe: Merz from the center-right calls for a "close alliance" between Berlin and Eastern Europe (especially Poland) and the Nordic and Baltic countries, according to a report in Berlin Playbook. Merz said in his speech on Sunday, in clear criticism of Scholz: "Europe must finally mature, especially with regard to security policy." Sweat and tears:

Mers, whose CDU/CSU group is leading in the polls ahead of the February 23 election, has promised to get the German economy back on track, but warned: "In the coming years, we will all need to contribute even more, together, to securing the prosperity, freedom and security of our country."
Hoping for another miracle: Scholz, who also spoke on Sunday, is hoping for a political comeback that would be even more impossible than his rise to office in 2021, when the Social Democrats (SPD) narrowly defeated the Christian Democrats and took power in a fragile three-party coalition. The SPD has so far been languishing at between 15 and 18 percent in the polls.
Elon Musk
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has condemned Elon Musk's support for the far-right Alternative for Germany party ahead of the February 23 general election. Scholz has expressed concern about Musk’s interference in German politics through his frequent public endorsement of the party.

In comments posted on his X platform, Musk described the AfD as “the only party that can save Germany.” He also endorsed the party in an opinion piece he wrote for the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag in late December.

That prompted accusations from German government officials last week that Musk was trying to interfere in the German election.

Scholz, who has previously brushed aside Musk’s personal attacks, such as calling him an “incompetent idiot” and calling for his resignation after the Magdeburg attack on Dec. 20, has been sharply critical of Musk’s support for the far-right party.