Christian Democratic Union (CDU) candidate Friedrich Merz speaks at a regional conference in Luebeck, Germany.
German businessman Friedrich Merz, who is running to replace Chancellor Angela Merkel as leader of the Christian Democratic (CDU) party, disclosed for the first time that he earns about one million euros ($1.14 million) a year, Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported on Sunday.
Merz, 62, chairs the German arm of the U.S. investment fund BlackRock, works for the U.S. law firm Mayer Brown and serves on the board of numerous companies.
Merz is running against CDU General Secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, 56, and Health Minister Jens Spahn, 38.
Merz stood at 49 percent support in a poll of conservative supporters published Sunday, compared to 32 percent for Kramp-Karrenbauer and 7 percent for Spahn.
"I began with the income of a law clerk in Saarbruecken that was manageable for a family with two children. Today I earn about a million euros gross", Merz told the newspaper.
Merz provided no details about his income from various positions, but annual reports show he recently earned 125,000 euros at BlackRock alone, as well as 80,000 euros at Wepa Industrieholding, which makes toilet paper; 75,000 euros at Bank HSBC Trinkhaus, and 14,000 euros at the Cologne-Bonn Airport GmbH, the newspaper reported.
Criticised recently for saying he belonged to the upper middle class, Merz told the paper: "For me, 'middle class' is not a pure economic measure. From my parents I learned the values that shape the middle class, including hard work, discipline, decency, respect and the knowledge that one should give back to society as one can".
Merz said for him the word "upper class" conjured images of people who had inherited a great deal of money or a company that allowed them to enjoy their lives. "This is not the case for me". ($1 = 0.8758 euro)
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, leading polls to succeed Angela Merkel as head of Germany's Christian Democrats, said she would consider legislation to ensure better representation of women in parliament, unless her party changed its approach.A new poll conducted for public broadcaster ARD showed 46 percent of CDU supporters backed Kramp-Karrenbauer for the post, compared to 31 percent for businessman Friedrich Merz and 12 percent for Health Minister Jens Spahn.Among women, support for Merz dropped to around half the level achieved by Kramp-Karrenbauer, ARD said.The number of women CDU lawmakers fell in the 2017 elections to one-fifth of the party's parliamentarians, and better representation of women is essential to shore up the party's support in future elections, Kramp-Karrenbauer said.Germany says many questions in Khashoggi case remain openShe told broadcaster Suedwestrundfunk (SWR) that many in the party had failed to take seriously a 1996 CDU rule reserving a third of party list candidates for women and said she would try to enforce the rule if elected leader.She said she would also consider legal measures to ensure better representation of women in Germany's parliament.New legislation to adopt a female quota was "a last resort", she said. "But it would be naive to think we can just let the issue run its course."In another interview with Der Spiegel magazine, Kramp-Karrenbauer also took aim at dual citizenship rules, accusing Turkey's leadership of trying to split the loyalties of German-Turkish dual nationals living in Germany.German far-right leader attacks media over donations scandal"If that continues, then dual citizenship is missing its sense and purpose, and we must talk about how we end this system," she said.The former premier of the western state of Saarland, said she supported a plan under which the children of immigrants received a second passport, but their children would not.The CDU voted in 2016 to end dual citizenship, but Chancellor Merkel subsequently said she did not feel bound by the vote.Merkel, now in her fourth term, has said she will step down as leader of her Christian Democrats, but plans to remain chancellor through 2021. Germany not meeting Turkey's demands on FETÖ: FMGermany's Merkel sees digital tax proposal by December
Merkel protege eyes female quota for lawmakers, takes aim at dual citizenship
Britain crashing out of the European Union without a divorce deal would have disastrous consequences for companies and workers in Britain and across Europe, the head of the BDI German Federation of Industry said on Saturday.Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May is fighting to defend a draft deal agreed with the EU but opposition from both within and outside her party has raised the possibility of a no-deal hard Brexit or even another referendum.Dieter Kempf told Funke Mediengruppe newspaper chain that a no-deal Brexit would hit the automotive, aerospace, chemical, pharmaceutical, engineering and electrical industries particularly hard. But service industries including banking and tourism would also be affected."A hard Brexit would be disastrous," Kempf said, adding that German firms should prepare for a no-deal exit of Britain from the European Union."It would cause great difficulty for tens of thousands of companies and hundreds of thousands of workers on both sides of the English Channel," he said.More than two years after the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU, it is still unclear how, on what terms or even if it will leave as planned on March 29, 2019.Opponents of the agreement with the European Union, which still has to be approved by the British parliament, say it is the worst of both worlds, leaving the bloc with too much power over Britain while taking away its say in making the rules.Kempf said German industry and government should brace for further uncertainty in coming months."I appeal to the lawmakers in the British parliament to be conscious of their responsibility," he said. "The ball is in London's court ... New negotiations are not the answer." 
Hard Brexit would be disastrous says German industry
Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer wants to open the German market to car pooling services offered by Uber and other companies by 2021, Focus magazine reported Saturday.Scheuer told Focus in an interview that online taxi services and pooling services could help provide critical services in rural areas, and he wanted to change existing regulations to permit their operation."We can create new possibilities, especially in rural areas and for older people, with car services and pooling systems," said Scheuer, a member of the Bavarian conservatives. "That is a giant opportunity."Current law bans drivers from accepting contracts directly from individuals, reserving that right for taxi drivers licensed by local authorities."I'm against bans and limits. I'm for incentives," Scheuer told the magazine. "We can't just exclude a service provider."At the same time, he said, taxi services would clearly be affected and their interests also had to be taken into consideration.Germany has been a difficult market for Uber given the strict regulatory environment. The company's app allows users to order licensed taxis in Berlin and Munich, and Uber has said it hopes to have a presence in every major German city by 2020.Uber operates in many parts of Europe, but offers different services, depending on local regulations. Dutch PM Rutte: NATO remains cornerstone of European defenceGermany says many questions in Khashoggi case remain openGerman far-right leader attacks media over donations scandal
German transport minister wants to welcome Uber, others by 2021
Despite the first indictments in Saudi probe, many questions remain unanswered in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Germany’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday.Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, Christofer Burger, deputy spokesman for Foreign Ministry, said Germany was still waiting for a full disclosure and accountability from Saudi Arabia.“There has been some developments yesterday. That was a first step. However, many questions remain open, as it has been before,” he said.The Saudi public prosecutor's office announced on Thursday that 11 suspects had been indicted for murdering Khashoggi inside Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul Consulate. It called for death penalty against five suspects.The prosecutors absolved Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of any blame for the murder.Burger underlined that Germany expected a full and transparent investigation in line with the international standards.“The murder of Khashoggi must be completely and thoroughly investigated. We expect that those responsible for the killing would be held accountable,” he added.Khashoggi, a Saudi national and columnist for The Washington Post, was killed on Oct. 2 inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.After weeks of denying involvement, the kingdom admitted that Khashoggi had been killed at the consulate but claimed that the Saudi royal family had no prior knowledge of a plot to murder him.So far, 21 people, including security officers, have been arrested in Saudi Arabia in connection with the murder.
Germany says many questions in Khashoggi case remain open
Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), on Friday accused media that uncovered evidence of large, unexplained donations to her party of seeking to discredit her.The AfD, which is Germany's largest opposition party but suffered lacklustre results in two regional elections last month, has been reeling since an investigative media consortium alleged Weidel's local party had received 130,000 euros ($147,251.00) from a Swiss firm in 2017.The party later also said it had received 150,000 euros from a Belgian - later revealed to be a Dutch - foundation. The AfD returned both sums after concerns were raised about a lack of clarity over funding, party officials told German media.The affair threatens to overshadow an AfD congress this weekend that some had seen as an opportunity for a relaunch after a difficult period for the anti-immigrant party.Donations from non-German citizens living in non-EU countries such as Switzerland are illegal in Germany, while all gifts of more than 50,000 euros must be declared in a parliamentary register - something the AfD did not do for either the Swiss or the Dutch donations.Weidel criticised the media treatment of her role."The accusations made against me regarding apparently illegal party donations are known to me only from the media," she said. "They lack any basis in fact and are an attempt to discredit me personally and politically."She did not say which details in the media reports she was contesting, adding that she would not say anything further while a planned investigation by prosecutors was under way.The AfD did not immediately respond to a request to clarify precisely what allegations she was rejecting in her statement.PARLIAMENTARY IMMUNITYProsecutors have asked for Weidel's parliamentary immunity to be lifted, an indication that they wish to carry out a preliminary examination of the affair.The party's other co-leader, Alexander Gauland, has so far stood by her, but the head of the party in her home state of Baden-Wuerttemberg told the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper she should resign if the donations turned out to have been illegal.The party is holding a congress this weekend to choose its candidates for next year's European Parliament elections, the next major test of whether it has managed to recover the momentum that saw it burst into parliament with 13 percent of votes cast in last year's national election.The AfD made little progress in elections in Bavaria and Hessen in October, which were both marked by surging support for the pro-immigration Greens, their ideological antithesis. ($1 = 0.8828 euros) 
German far-right leader attacks media over donations scandal