North Rhine-Westphalia leader raises international profile with Erdoğan meeting

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Wüst meets Erdoğan in Turkey

Highlights

North Rhine-Westphalia leader Hendrik Wüst met President Erdoğan for 50 minutes to discuss economic ties and EU-Turkey customs union reform, marking his elevated international profile.
Wüst seeks to attract investment to North Rhine-Westphalia's struggling manufacturing sector during his Turkey visit, which coincides with the 65th anniversary of the Turkish-German migrant labor agreement.
Erdoğan's meeting with Wüst occurs amid the Turkish government's attempts to manage an $18 billion financial scandal impacting over 450,000 retail investors and prompting high-level resignations.

Turkey visit lifts Wüst's standing

As reported by Financial Times, the 50-minute meeting on Monday is an unusual gesture by Erdoğan toward a German regional leader and adds to signs that Wüst is gaining prominence as the most likely successor to Merz. A member of Wüst's delegation says the discussion focuses on close ties between North Rhine-Westphalia and Turkey, economic co-operation and current political issues.

Wüst's trip marks the 65th anniversary of the agreement that enabled hundreds of thousands of Turkish workers to move to West Germany in the 1960s. During the meeting, the Christian Democrat also moves beyond state issues, discussing Turkey's role as a NATO member and strategic partner, as well as EU-Turkey relations, and later says his state supports reform of the EU-Turkey customs union.

Wüst says no region is as closely connected to Turkey, socially and economically, as North Rhine-Westphalia, pointing to the roughly one million people with Turkish roots living in the state. He also voices concern about domestic political developments in Turkey, including the rule of law and freedom of the press.

The premier, who lacks foreign policy experience, also visits Henkel's plant near Ankara and lays a wreath at the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. He is due to meet Turkish business executives before traveling to Istanbul as he seeks to attract investment into North Rhine-Westphalia and its struggling manufacturing towns.

Pressure builds in German and Turkish politics

Wüst's higher profile comes as Merz battles record-low approval ratings, rising discontent within his party and tensions with the Social Democrats, his junior coalition partner. Speculation about a possible leadership change had already intensified after Wüst's Poland trip in May, and it grows further after the far-right Alternative for Germany comes first in regional elections in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, dealing heavy losses to the Christian Democratic Union.

For Erdoğan, the meeting unfolds as his government tries to contain the fallout from an $18 billion financial scandal affecting more than 450,000 retail investors. The scandal has already prompted the resignation of one of the ruling party's most senior officials, and the Turkish president is due to lead a cabinet meeting on the response.

Our earlier article on Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe’s turnaround plans explained that the group is targeting a mid-term jump in core profit, supported by capacity reductions and workforce cuts. It also highlighted how Europe’s steelmakers are leaning on trade protections against low-priced Asian imports to defend margins in a persistently pressured market.

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