Friedrich Merz lashes out at Greens as German election campaign starts

Favourite to be country’s next leader rails against possible coalition partners even as he says he will restore harmony

The frontrunner to be Germany’s next leader has pledged to end the infighting that has hobbled the country’s politics in recent years, even as he railed against his most likely coalition partners.

The country’s main parties kicked off their campaigns on Tuesday, a day after Chancellor Olaf Scholz triggered a snap election for February with a confidence vote he deliberately lost. Presenting his Christian Union (CDU/CSU) alliance’s manifesto, the centre-right opposition chief, Friedrich Merz, vowed to German voters that he would bring back much-missed harmony.