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Many Germans are in “denial” about the dangers of Russian aggression, an ally of chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz has warned, as he said that the next government must make the scale of the threat clear to the public.
Johann Wadephul, an MP who is in the running to become the next foreign minister once Merz and his Christian Democrats (CDU) have formed a government, said many people in Europe’s largest nation were “repressing” the scale of the threat posed by Vladimir Putin’s regime.
“The most acute threat to us — to our lives, to the legal system, but also to the physical lives of all people in Europe is now Russia,” Wadephul told an event at the Center for Liberal Modernity think-tank in Berlin.
Wadephul’s remarks come after a series of politicians from both the CDU and the centre-left Social Democrats have publicly floated the idea of resuming energy and trade ties with Moscow, a reminder of the enduring support in some parts of politics and business for a return to the days when Germany was Gazprom’s biggest European customer.
They also serve as a reminder of the challenges for Merz, whose CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, came first in February’s German nationwide elections. The man who is almost certain to become Germany’s next chancellor has promised to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia and also to assume a leadership role within Europe as the continent grapples with the fear of a looming US retreat from its security.
Merz must also reckon with scepticism in some parts of German society and pressure from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) — which has called for an end to sanctions on Moscow and secured a historic second-place finish with 21 per cent of the vote.
Wadephul said that there were different variants of the denial, including in the former communist East German Republic (GDR), where opposition to western military support for Ukraine runs high.
“Even though the people in eastern Germany really suffered under the GDR regime, still many do not want to recognise what Russia is like under Putin,” he said. “They don’t want to accept it.”
“It’s very difficult, even in my party, but also with the general public, for people to come to the conclusion that Russia is so aggressive, so dangerous, and such a threat to civilisation and all of us here,” Wadephul continued.
He also said the “widespread attitude of denial” was not limited to Germany. “People come unstuck in this scenario. They are repressing it,” he said.
Merz last month tore up Germany’s strict rules on public debt to allow unlimited borrowing to fund defence spending and support for Ukraine.
But, during the campaign, he also tempered some of his previously hawkish language as he sought to fend off the challenge from the AfD.
The CDU leader stepped back on a promise to supply Kyiv with long-range Taurus missiles amid pressure from politicians from his party in east German states. He also came under fire from his predecessor Olaf Scholz, who repeatedly warned over the past three years of the dangers of escalation with Moscow even as he made Germany the world’s second largest supplier of arms to Kyiv.
Wadephul, who is a long-standing Ukraine supporter as well as an advocate of bringing back military conscription, said that the next government had a responsibility to “speak out” more strongly on the threat posed by Russia. “This is a leadership task,” he said. “You have to take it on.”
He also said that “voters and the population can endure much more than one thinks — and than many politicians think they can expect of them”.
