When Germany elects a new government on 26 September the average voter age may be over 50, but a week and a half before polling day it is children who are asking the hard questions of the candidates who want to fill Angela Merkel’s shoes.
Armin Laschet, of the outgoing chancellor’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and Olaf Scholz, of the centre-left Social Democratic party (SPD), were both left shifting in their seats in what has been hailed as their toughest grilling of the campaign trail – at the hands of two 11-year-olds.
Questions such as “What would you be called if you were a dragon?” and “Do you sometimes build a cave when you want to be alone?” were interspersed with hard-hitting probes of the candidates’ positions on Russian foreign policy, civil protest and dealing with radical delegates in their own ranks.
Laschet, whose party’s fortunes have declined dramatically since he was filmed giggling in the background while Germany’s president gave a solemn address to victims of this summer’s devastating floods, was asked by one of the children, Romeo, why he had laughed.
“Because someone made a stupid comment,” Laschet said. “That was stupid.”
“Can one become chancellor if you don’t know how to behave?”, Romeo’s co-interviewer Pauline probed further. “No,” Laschet responded with an air of impatience. “But I know how to behave.”
