(Bloomberg) -- German conservative frontrunner Friedrich Merz and Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz made their final pitches to breakfast television viewers on Friday, with polls showing Merz solidly on course for victory in Sunday’s election.
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Appearing on ZDF TV’s “Morgenmagazin” show, an energetic Merz pledged that a government under his leadership wouldn’t raise taxes to fund the hundreds of billions of euros of investment needed in areas like defense and infrastructure, saying it would be “poison” for Europe’s biggest economy.
A tired-looking Scholz, speaking remotely from a studio in Hamburg, was later asked what his plans are if he loses as expected.
“I am running again for the office of chancellor and of course I want to win,” he said defiantly. “Why should I concern myself with the question of what I will do” in the event of defeat, he added.
Voter support for Merz’s CDU/CSU bloc has held steady at around 30% throughout the three-month election campaign since Scholz dismantled his ruling coalition in November.
The far-right Alternative for Germany is in second place at about 20%, with Scholz’s SPD trailing in third at around 15% and the Greens fourth at 13%.
Merz will need at least one coalition partner to secure a majority in parliament and the SPD and the Greens are his most likely options.
Depending on the number of smaller parties that clear the 5% threshold for getting seats in the Bundestag, he may be forced into an unwieldy three-party alliance.
Merz told “Morgenmagazin” viewers that if he captures the chancellery, he’d focus on cutting spending on social benefits and financial support for refugees rather than raising taxes.
Loosening restrictions on government borrowing — enshrined in the so-called constitutional “debt brake” — isn’t a priority, he added.
“The most important bet on the future is that we marshal our strength to get this economy growing again,” Merz said. “For companies and households, we’ll rather have to ease the tax burden,” he added. “But this is a task for the whole of the next parliament, it doesn’t happen overnight by hitting a button.”
Both Merz and Scholz discussed the need for Europe to take on more responsibility for its security, with signs the US under Donald Trump is pulling back from its commitment to the NATO military alliance.