The CDU in general is a whole lot more liberal than this, I'm talking about Merkel and her allies specifically.
"The CDU in general is a whole lot more liberal than this, I'm talking about Merkel and her allies specifically."
Liberal as in "free market" or liberal as in "left wing"?
Anyway, sure, the CDU is somewhat more to the left than say the US republicans, especially in economic matter. But that doesn't mean that a party cannot be transformed. Blair did it with the UK labour party, so it will be interesting to see what Merkel and her allies can do with the CDU. Because, one thing is for sure: Compared to Kohl and Bluem (a former minister under and a friend of Kohl, who was even left of a large part of the SPD) Merkel is a free-market radical.