CDU leader Armin Laschet: ‘Even in the coldest of cold wars there was dialogue’

Cheerful Rhinelander poised to succeed Angela Merkel aims to reach out to likes of Russia and Hungary

Over her 16 years as German chancellor, Angela Merkel has gained a reputation as the world's go-to consensus-builder, a relentless forger of compromises between political opponents. The man most likely to step into her shoes this September presents himself as someone with the ambition to outdo her.

Armin Laschet, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and conservative candidate for the top job at federal elections on 26 September, says he is a passionate European, a committed transatlanticist and a reliable ally of Israel.