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The German chancellor will reach for her national colours red, gold and black, for the upcoming elections in a major U-turn from when she eliminated the flag from the Bundestag during the 2013 election.

But concerns the flag-waving would be viewed as ‘too conservative’ have been overruled by Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union as they go up against the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party in September’s German elections.

CDU secretary Peter Tauber said the party’s campaign will be “a bit more patriotic than before,” telling the Financial Times: “Because we are in times where right wing populists are stronger and we don’t want to leave patriotism to these people”.