The CDU suffered losses in the federal election. Armin Laschet drew conclusions from this and announced his resignation.
(Photo: dpa)
There is a magic inherent in every beginning. This well-known Hermann Hesse quote does not apply to the Union parliamentary group. There is no magic in your start into the tough opposition period, nowhere. The realignment did not succeed, but rather unsuccessful.
The old clusters of the old CDU held on to heave the old heads into the few lucrative positions that are even available on the tough opposition bench.
The top of the parliamentary group leadership reads like an infusion of the grand coalition: Jens Spahn, Hermann Gröhe or Dorothee Bär did not let the younger generation go first, but instead secured positions as parliamentary group vices – in the hope of starting a second career out of office be able.
And ex-Chancellery Minister Helge Braun quickly secured the chairmanship of the budget committee in anticipation of the election defeat for the party chairmanship. Sure, there are notable exceptions, such as Armin Laschet or Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.
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Nevertheless: a new beginning is different. The fact that the parliamentary group would have wished for less of the old and more of the new is shown by the poor election results of the ministers.
In addition, there are personnel decisions that weaken the parliamentary group, at least for the time being, structurally. With Thorsten Frei, of all people, one of the most experienced Union politicians will become a parliamentary group manager, who primarily takes care of organizational matters.
After Armin Laschet’s resignation, the next CDU chairman will take care of rebuilding the party.
(Photo: dpa)
The new parliamentary groups for health and finance are completely new in their subject areas, but must immediately stand up to Health Minister Karl Lauterbach and Finance Minister Christian Lindner.
Merz could be the bright spot
Still there is hope. The new CDU chairman, who will most likely be named after Friedrich Merz, could already be determined on Friday. He has always been the preferred candidate of many CDU members, with his election the base would be reconciled with their party leadership.
In Merz’s election there is therefore an opportunity for the CDU. Analogous to the SPD with the dual leadership of Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans, elected in 2019, Merz could lead the CDU back to self-assurance, from which a new self-confidence and a new unity feed.
To do this, Merz has to do two things: He has to involve the liberal Merkel wing. And he has to accept that he is a chairman of the transition – and in 2025 leave the candidate for chancellor to someone who fully embodies the decade of modernization that the CDU rightly proclaimed during the election campaign.
More: Who gets what? The CDU redistributes its posts