Berlin The first shock on Sunday was followed by the painful hangover on Monday: The Union’s high loss of votes was one thing. But ultimately falling back to second place behind the SPD was too much. Some in the CDU presidium described the tactics of party leader Armin Laschet as a “straw policy” to strive for coalition talks with the FDP and the Greens in spite of everything.
Karl-Josef Laumann, head of the workers’ wing, is said to have hit the table with his fist and said: “It can’t go on like this.” The CDU and CSU are in the deepest crisis since 1998. That was when the Kohl era ended and the Union landed in the opposition. After 16 years of Angela Merkel, the two sister parties may still be able to save themselves into a coalition – but only if the FDP and the Greens let them.
Just the success of preventing Red-Red-Green does not hold the party together. In view of the catastrophic result of only 24.1 percent, frustration began to run its course in the management bodies on Monday.
It’s about survival: not just each individual career, but the party as a whole. “The CDU at this level is no longer a people’s party,” said Presidium member Norbert Röttgen. And Bernd Althusmann, Head of State in Lower Saxony, said: “We have to say clearly that we are repositioning ourselves in terms of content, organization and personnel.”
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A look at the political map of Germany for direct mandates shows the sad picture of the Union: In the federal states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Bremen and Saarland, the CDU did not win a single direct mandate. In Saxony and Thuringia, the AfD dominates large parts of the constituencies.
Many in the CDU may be secretly happy that the controversial former President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, lost as a CDU candidate to his SPD competitor. But also the declared AfD critic Marco Wanderwitz, the federal government’s Eastern Commissioner, suffered a defeat in his Saxon homeland against the local AfD candidate and only made it to parliament via the state list.
The strongest regional associations in the Union are Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, where only direct mandates move into the Bundestag, which hide the poor second vote result. The party even suffered losses in Hesse, where the conservatives were in the CDU.
Read more about the federal election:
Party Vice President Jens Spahn attacked in the morning: “The next generation after Angela Merkel must now ensure that we find our old strength in the next decade,” announced the Minister of Health via “Spiegel” and named the Prime Ministers Tobias Hans in Saarland and Daniel Günther in Schleswig-Holstein, which would face elections next year, as well as the economic politician Carsten Linnemann and the deputy party chairman Silvia Breher from Lower Saxony. Despite the crash, the Union has “a potential of over 30 percent”.
Spahn is one of those who have hopes to take over the chairmanship of the parliamentary group. His advance was accordingly understood as an application, as the post is considered a stepping stone into the Chancellery. However, Spahn himself has to accept high losses in his constituency, even if he was still able to hold the direct mandate in the conservative Münsterland.
“I want to stay parliamentary group leader,” Ralph Brinkhaus immediately clarified. He knows that in addition to Spahn, Friedrich Merz and Norbert Röttgen are also eyeing the office. Laschet had already decided on Sunday to avoid a fight vote and to leave Brinkhaus temporarily in office.
But not only the other aspirants for this post did not like the solution. Brinkhaus is said to have furiously demanded in the presidium to be elected for one year by the new parliamentary group this Tuesday.
But Laschet’s plan is different: by the next meeting of the parliamentary group, on the one hand, the fronts within the Union are to be clarified – and also the possibility of whether there can be government participation. Only then should the MPs decide – on their group chairman and the future direction. Laschet himself currently does not want to run as leader of the parliamentary group, it is too uncertain whether he will fail and would have failed. It is enough for him to negotiate a coalition as party chairman.
Claim to power of the CSU
The CSU also has an important say in the question. Party leader Markus Söder made it clear that the Union had landed in second place, which does not give rise to any claim to governance – but an offer for talks, as he said on the board. The Union submits such an offer – but there will be no “ingratiation at any price” from the Greens and the FDP. It was to be understood as a warning to the FDP not to push the price for a coalition too high, and less so to Laschet.
In the press conference, Söder said: “Yes, it was a defeat.” In fact, the CSU in Bavaria only came to a meager 33 percent. Nevertheless, Söder could be sure to remain “unchallenged” in these critical days, as the CSU board said. “Nobody will be so crazy as to ignite during the negotiations.”
“With a black eye,” the CSU got away with, said Söder. You have lost a seat, but has “become larger in the group as a whole” – and thus bear responsibility. Internally it was registered that the CSU with 45 members is larger than the group of NRW members of the CDU with only 41 seats – and that despite the NRW candidate for chancellor.
Söder agrees with Laschet to use the poor result for a general criticism. “Working up means: making yourself honest.” There should be regional conferences, studies in which “the last year and a half are dealt with. The usual instruments with which politicians commonly signal penitentiality to the grassroots. Söder said conciliatory to Laschet: “Everyone made mistakes.”
“Everything we do now sets the course for the state elections,” said Söder. “The contours of the Union must become visible.” Renewal succeeds best in government, but then there has to be renewal. He is in close contact with Laschet.
Laschet also announced this: “We will analyze this result and definitely work it up, not only in the committees, but with the participation of the district associations and the grassroots – regardless of a possible formation of a government.”
Without this promise, there might have been an erosion of Laschet’s power this Monday. Saxony’s CDU Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer has warned: “Carrying on as before must lead to ruin.”
There were also clear demands in the federal executive committee of the CDU. “It cannot be like 2017 again so that we do not come to terms with the defeat,” demanded participants. Even then, Angela Merkel achieved the historically worst result, it was never analyzed within the party, let alone that conclusions were drawn. Mind you: At that time it was about a result of 33 percent.
Of course, the Union bears responsibility, Kretschmer made clear. But it must make it clear what it stands for: as the “party of the East German federal states”, which stands for “internal security” and for “economic freedom”.
Last hope Jamaica
Laschet called for unity so that the Union with the FDP and the Greens could sound out a “future coalition”, as he later called it. “A Union-led government is best for our country,” he said. Everyone must “meet at eye level and overcome opposites”. He made it clear: “In Germany, the one who unites a majority in the Bundestag will become the chancellor.” He is ready for talks for a Jamaica coalition.
Economic politician Friedrich Merz welcomed negotiations with the FDP and the Greens and appealed to state political responsibility. He supports “that we are now trying to form a government in Germany with Armin Laschet and Markus Söder”. “First the country and then the party. That is why we are ready to talk. ”It is about“ ideas for the future ”.
The Rhineland-Palatinate state chief, Christian Baldauf, warned against too quick talks with the FDP and the Greens. “In principle, I can only negotiate coalition if I know what I want,” he said. One can only bind core voters to oneself if one does not increase taxes and relieve families and the middle class.
After the debates in the presidium and board of directors, Laschet declared, visibly contrite, that he wanted to focus on the term “sustainability” and thus aimed at climate protection and financial policy. A black-yellow-green alliance should be “a new project for the country”. “There was no doubt,” he said, that it was right to offer up for negotiations, even if it wasn’t enough for first place.
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