The pension dispute has not been resolved, and things are going smoothly in the Union and the coalition. But now it’s up to the Chancellor Friedrich Merz first go abroad for a few days. In the evening he began his longest business trip since he was appointed six months ago. He visited Africa for the first time as head of government. The CDU leader will be on the road for four nights – two of them on a government plane – and three days. Two summits in South Africa and Angola are also on the agenda.
The first stop is South Africa’s economic metropolis, Johannesburg, on Saturday and Sunday G20 Summit happen. It’s clear that this will be a very special summit – in the negative sense. The meeting has so far caused commotion mainly due to a series of cancellations.
Summit cancellation: Trump, Xi and Putin not attending
The three most powerful countries in the G20 group of leading industrialized and developing countries, the United States, China and Russia, are not represented at executive level. There was also resistance from the heads of state of Argentina, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. The US government under President Donald Trump even wanted to boycott all discussions at the summit because it accused the South African government of carrying out cruel oppression against white farmers. South Africa rejected the allegations as baseless.
Three reasons to keep traveling to Africa
But Merz didn’t let this stop him from his travel plans. Three reasons were given for this in his environment.
- The Chancellor wants to maintain the G20 Summit as an international discussion format. It said that meetings held during the global financial crisis in 2008 had been successful at the time and should be maintained as a response tool to similar crises.
- Merz also wants to use the visit to Johannesburg to deepen partnerships with Africa, especially in the economic field. His participation was a sign of appreciation for the continent, where such a summit was being held for the first time.
- The summit offers an opportunity for bilateral discussions, which Merz will take full advantage of. He didn’t know some of the participants better yet; it’s its G20 premiere.
At least Lula was there – what about Belem?
Merz himself had announced his meeting. He wants to come in Johannesburg Had “another good conversation” with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whom he met less than two weeks ago at the World Climate Conference in Belém, Brazil. The Chancellor’s remarks about the city of more than one million people after his return were seen by many Brazilians as insulting and insulting.
Also Lula He commented, among other things, in the words that Merz should have gone dancing in Belem. So there is still something that needs to be clarified between the two. However, after his experience with Belém, Merz would probably avoid commenting on the cityscapes of Johannesburg or Luanda, Angola’s capital, on this trip.
40 bosses expected to attend EU-Africa summit
Far-reaching results are not expected at the G20 summit, mainly because America is not present. On Sunday evening, Merz will travel to the EU-Africa summit in Luanda, which is expected to be attended by 40 heads of state and government. At least a joint final declaration seems certain to take place, which will mainly focus on the topics of security and crisis management as well as economic cooperation.
Klingbeil is there too – time for domestic politics?
Perhaps there will be time during the trip to at least exchange a few words about domestic politics. Merz will be accompanied in Johannesburg by Vice-Chancellor and Minister of Finance Lars Klingbeil (SPD), who comes to South Africa directly from a trip to China and Singapore.
When the two returned to Berlin at the start of next week, they had four grueling weeks ahead. A wide range of controversial issues still need to be resolved before Christmas – especially the pension dispute, for which there is still no solution. The deadline is December 19, when the last meeting of the Bundestag and Bundesrat takes place.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:251121-930-320086/1
