Irish Examiner view: Germany's Friedrich Merz will hit the ground running
Friedrich Merz, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union, must restore Germany’s position within the EU at a time when the country and the union as a whole face shattering global political norms. Picture: Martin Meissner/AP
As the world grapples to deal with a rogue administration in Washington, the EU needs a strong government in Berlin to enable it to cope with existential threats from west to east.
Long seen as Europe’s most essential member state, Germany has lately become one of its most ineffectual, bogged down as it has been by internecine political in-fighting and government flip-flops on vital policy issues.
Despite being Europe’s biggest, richest, and most important power, the German economy has stagnated over the past two years and its influence has waned.
The job for Friedrich Merz, the conservative Christian Democratic Union leader who is set to become the next chancellor, is therefore an urgent one — to restore Germany’s position within the EU at a time when the country and the union as a whole face shattering global political norms.
More military aid for Ukraine — including the long-denied Taurus long-range missiles — the possibility of German peacekeeping feet on the ground in Kyiv, and an increase in defence funding to at least 3% of GDP, are among the issues Merz immediately faces.
And, of course, there’s Donald Trump.
Following the speech last week by outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz that the US was interfering in the election campaign and threatening European security, Merz now has to deal with the fallout from within the Oval Office.
The destiny of Ukraine is now indelibly tied in with that of Europe as a whole, and Germany in particular and Merz will have to rebuild relations with important allies such as Poland and France which had cooled during Scholz’s time in office.
Merz will have been watching closely as French president Emmanuel Macron met with Trump in Washington on Monday, to see if he will care to speak truth to power, especially as Merz claimed the new US administration “mostly don’t care” about the fate of Europe.
One way or another, Germany’s incoming chancellor has a lot in his in-tray.
There will be an election this autumn to see who will become Ireland’s 10th president in succession to the current holder of the office, Michael D Higgins.
Speculation as to who might stand in the election has been feverish for months now and includes notables such as former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, and on down to political outsiders such as disgraced MMA fighter Conor McGregor and former Eurovision winner Linda Martin.
Some, including Adams and former taoiseach Enda Kenny, have already shunned nominations for the position, while the current first minister in the North, Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill, has been tepid at best about running.
But O’Neill is a very interesting prospect from many points of view and her political opponents in the North, not least DUP leader Gavin Robinson, see her being set up by her party for a run to be the next incumbent at Áras an Uachtaráin.
In a letter to his party members at the weekend, Robinson suggested the “manoeuvre” last week by Sinn Féin — in announcing its boycott of the White House events surrounding St Patrick’s Day due to US president Trump’s stance on Gaza — was a ploy to set O’Neill up for a run for Irish presidency.
He claimed it was a bit odd for his political rivals to be taking such a stand when last year, during the height of the conflict and destruction in Gaza, Sinn Féin was in Washington for all the St Patrick’s Day palaver.
“Go figure that principled decision,” Robinson said.
After its failure to break into Government in last year’s general election, perhaps Sinn Féin feels it needs the fuel of a major electoral breakthrough and winning the presidency here would do the trick.
Watch this space.
It might be the case that the late Jim Mountjoy came up with the idea of a jazz festival in Cork simply to create a bit of business during an otherwise slack bank holiday weekend in the hotel he then managed, but the fact of the matter is that Cork owes him a massive debt of gratitude.
A cancelled bridge symposium at the Metropole Hotel on MacCurtain St, due to have been held over the newly-created October bank holiday weekend in 1978, prompted Mountjoy to come up with something that would try and fill hotel rooms, restaurants, and bars — his mainly.
At short notice and with little or no marketing, he came up with the idea of a jazz festival; it was something that would grow and give the city an international reputation for hosting one of the biggest and best such events on the planet.
Undoubtedly, Mountjoy never envisaged the success the Cork Jazz Festival would become, or how his hotel would become central to the event’s success or how it would expand across the city to involve practically every pub, eating house, bed and breakfast, and hotel in an extravaganza that not only raised a bunch of cash but gave Cork a global platform.
This unexpected bonus from something initially seen only as a stop-gap solution to an immediate problem, grew year-on-year into the behemoth which, nearly 50 years later, has become part of the fabric of the city.
With corporate sponsors on board, as well as the full backing of publicans, restaurateurs, and hoteliers — as well as shop owners, taxi companies, and practically every other service provider the city had to offer — Cork not only became a magnate for locals and tourists from all over the world, but the international stars of the jazz world.
So, thank you, Jim Mountjoy, for leaving us with an institution which has truly stood the test of time.
