Merz and Scholz make final pitches to voters before election

I don't want to suggest Merz plans (a coalition with the AfD), but I have to say my personal confidence that he won't do it after the election if that's his only way of becoming Chancellor - that's gone,

said Ulf Buermeyer, host of the popular and influential podcast State of the Nation

I want to do politics so that a party like the AfD is no longer needed in Germany,

he told a congress of his conservatives in January, blaming the Social Democrat Scholz and his Green partners for creating the conditions that nurtured the AfD

If elected as Chancellor, sparks might fly between Merz and Trump as Merz has been extremely critical of Trump’s fascination with tariffs."

He told the Daily Express

If we spend weeks, possibly months, possibly with party conferences and even member surveys then the period in which this country is without a majority capable of governing will be too long for me,

he said in a Politico interview this week

Regardless of the parliamentary makeup, social fragmentation is likely to persist,

he told AFP

I am running again for the office of chancellor and of course I want to win,

he said defiantly

Friedrich Merzleader

The most important bet on the future is that we marshal our strength to get this economy growing again,

Merz said

These tasks must also be financed through greater leeway in our debt rules — otherwise the country will not hold together and cannot grow,

Scholz said

For companies and households, we’ll rather have to ease the tax burden,

he added

Friedrich Merzleader

I don't agree with anybody who is putting NATO membership off the table."

Mr Merz also said

There is no co-operation with this party."

He added

The weak parts of the positions are that the CDU/CSU is not very precise on how it wants to increase investments in infrastructure, digitalization and education. The intention is there, but the details are not,

Brzeski said, noting that the union

There is a high risk that Germany will get a refurbished economic model after the elections, but not a brand new model that makes the competition jealous,

Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING, told CNBC

To increase growth prospects substantially without increasing debt also seems rather unlikely,

DIW's Dany-Knedlik said,

It is still a reform program which pretends that change can happen without pain,

he said

Taking into account that a 2 Percent growth target is to be reached within a 4 year legislation period, the Agenda 2030 in combination with conservatives attitude towards the debt break to me reads more of a wish list than a straight forward economic growth program,

she said

Even the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine has not created a sense of urgency in Germany – a sense that time to rebuild the military is not infinite,

says Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff of the German Council on Foreign Relations

Nobody wants to get caught speaking the truth before the election,

says Jan Techau, a former defence ministry speechwriter who is now director of Europe at the consultancy Eurasia Group

Some people will go to the election, into the polling booth and only then decide who and which party to vote for. And I believe that in the end, many will vote for the SPD and give me a new mandate to lead,

he said

Friedrich Merz is certainly poised to be the next chancellor of Germany, but the question remains how he will formulate a stable governing coalition,

said Sudha David-Wilp of the German Marshall Fund of the United States