Let's talk about the political state of Germany. I am now joined by Wolfgang Bosbach from the CDU, former member of the Bundestag, experienced domestic politician and experienced election campaigner for the Union. Good morning, Mr. Bosbach. Good morning Mr. Hädler, greetings from Saxony. Are you in Saxony at the moment? That's interesting, the state elections are taking place in two weeks on September 1st, and the CDU should actually benefit much more from the misery that the traffic lights are currently producing. But why isn't this happening at the moment? So there is a lot at stake for the CDU in Saxony and Thuringia too. It's not just a lot at stake for the CDU, it's a lot at stake for the countries in which the elections are held, but above all for Germany as a whole. Because the whole country is watching the election results, first in Thuringia and Saxony and then three weeks later in Brandenburg. We have a fragmentation of the party landscape that we have never had in this form before. The Sarah Wagenknecht alliance was recently added, and then we are now experiencing - think of the next federal election - that it is not at all unlikely that we will then have eight parties, seven factions, in parliament. Then the formation of stable coalitions - there will no longer be absolute majorities in the foreseeable future - will become increasingly difficult, and people will also feel that, and that will cause uncertainty. But how do you, as the CDU, actually want to reach the people in the three eastern German states where the elections are taking place? You are campaigning for the party, you have been specifically asked. Now your party leader Friedrich Merz is heading to the regions to campaign. But voters hardly want to see the party grandees from federal politics, do they? Well, I don't have that feeling at all, quite the opposite. Wherever I meet people: friendly, polite, interested, but also to a large extent unsettled and afraid. It's a mystery, Mr. Hädler, the two of us have been traveling together for a long time now: I know from all the surveys that around 80% of people tend to find politicians rather stupid, and 90% are happy when they see one. And I always try to do it with content. I also try to use words that do not devalue other parties or their candidates. And that is my very certain feeling after the performances here in the new federal states, especially here: people do n't want to be lectured by politics, they don't want to be educated by politics, but they want politics to explain and of course the important future issues be tackled. But why are the AfD and Alliance Sarah Wagenknecht parties so strong in the East? Because they deliberately shoot against the party establishment and also against the CDU and, above all, the Chancellor and are actually successful in doing so. And this is still clearly evident in surveys at the moment. You're right, there's not one reason, there 's a whole bunch of reasons. One reason, for example, is that we here and the others over there consciously distance ourselves from politics in the west of the Republic. Also - and we should not underestimate this - because many people had bitter experiences after reunification. Then there is an attitude here in the West: We are the norm, in the new federal states they are the deviants. There cannot be the same traditional ties to the established parties as in the west of the Republic. And then there's another reason: Look, we first had National Socialist tyranny here, then we had the SED dictatorship. People have been used to the command economy of politics for decades, they have been told what to do and what not to do, and that is why people here react much more allergically to any form of paternalism than in other parts of the republic. Otherwise, we should n't act as if the election campaigners were surrounded by exotic people. No, these are completely normal people like you and me, but they have a different view of politics than in large parts of the country, especially in the west of the republic. And we have to accept that, that we have to respect. That's why I can't appear here, according to the method: I 'll explain the world to you now. I'm curious to see how your mission for the CDU in Saxony, Thuringia and probably also in Brandenburg will turn out. Wolfgang Bosbach, veteran of politics in Germany, thank you for the conversation and your comments. Thank you.