Berlin The CDU has a new general secretary in Carsten Linnemann. The federal executive unanimously followed the proposal by party leader Friedrich Merz on Wednesday. Surprisingly for many, he had announced the day before that he was parting ways with his Secretary General Mario Czaja after just one and a half years.
The change came as no surprise. According to information from the Handelsblatt, at least the close party and parliamentary group leadership was involved in the decision.
At a joint press conference, Merz did not want to give the reasons for the decision. While Czaja defended his work again, Linnemann said: “I have to support the election campaigns. We have to be able to campaign.” “Really hard, hard work” is waiting for him.
In doing so, the 45-year-old Linnemann expressed criticism indirectly. For example, the Hessian CDU did not rely on the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus early on to prepare the election campaign for the state elections in autumn. At the same time, the CSU must defend its power in Bavaria.
Linnemann, who comes from Paderborn, reported that he had already phoned Boris Rhein, Prime Minister of Hesse, and Martin Huber, Secretary General of the CSU, and offered help.
Target: A victory in the 2025 federal election
The economist Linnemann has so far been deputy party chairman and head of the basic program commission. Like Merz, he belongs to the business wing of the party and is considered open to debate.
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He received a lot of encouragement. Deputy Secretary General Christina Stumpp told the Handelsblatt that he had done “excellent work” so far. “Now the content is important,” she remarked on the change with a view to the 2025 federal election.
Linnemann declared a victory there to be the “target mark”. This can only succeed “if we all work together as a team”. That’s why he wanted to talk to the employees of the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus immediately.
In the future, Stumpp should also play a larger role in the party. As the CDU said, Czaja hardly gave the deputy room to make a name for herself. The 35-year-old from Baden-Württemberg is one of the new, young faces of the party and also feels part of the business wing.
The previous Secretary General came into office mainly because of his CV as an East German and as a social politician.
(Photo: IMAGO/Future Image)
Merz rejected criticism that both East Germans and social politicians were underrepresented. Czaja came into office because of his CV: as an East Berliner and former Berlin Senator for Social Affairs. It’s about competence, not about proportionality, said Merz and explained that it was a “change of personnel and not a change of direction”. Economic policy and social policy are part of a whole. “We are representatives of the entire spectrum.”
The Thuringian state chairman Mario Voigt, Linnemann’s deputy in the basic program commission, expects a stronger economic policy profile. “Carsten Linnemann is characterized by his plain language and his commitment to the hard-working people in this country,” he told the Handelsblatt.
“That is what is important for the Union now: clearly formulating our positions, not avoiding any debate and always striving for a solution-oriented policy. He will “continue to work on the basic orientation of the Union” with Linnemann in the program committee.
Employee representatives want to be involved in party leadership
The deputy head of the employee wing of the CDA, Dennis Radtke, praised the personnel, but at the same time called for “thematic and communicative coordination with the CDA”. In addition to relieving the burden on small and medium-sized incomes, the question of affordable housing and the formation of property are also important issues.
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“As a party to ownership, we cannot accept that real estate has become an illusion for average earners,” the European politician told the Handelsblatt. A representative of the social wing in the narrower party leadership is not enough. “But the range of the CDU must be visible, even beyond proportional representation,” demanded the 44-year-old.
A federal party conference will officially appoint Linnemann as Secretary General in May 2024. Then the presidency and thus the deputies will be re-elected. In addition, the CDU wants to decide on its basic program.
Linnemann announced that the results obtained so far would already be “linked to day-to-day politics”. In times of crisis and change, people expected orientation. “It is the task of the CDU to provide support and orientation,” he said. That’s why he sparked public debates on pension policy or the question of making overtime tax-free.
At the same time, the CDU must offer something to people who can no longer work. “That is solidarity.”
CDU handling of Maaßen still unclear
The CDU left one question unanswered on this memorable Wednesday: how things will continue with the former President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maassen. After the federal executive decided in February to exclude Maaßen from the party because of controversial right-wing populist statements, the competent district party court in Thuringia rejected this on Tuesday.
Now the CDU has to decide whether to go to the next instance. Merz said that the reasoning for the judgment must first be available. After that, the Board of Directors will decide.
More: Friedrich Merz replaces CDU general secretary