Friedrich Merz (66) wants to make Mario Czaja (46) CDU General Secretary!
At least if the party members elect Merz as their chairman in December. The former Union faction leader announced on Tuesday. Czaja was formerly the Senator for Social Affairs in Berlin.
Merz would also like to change the statutes in order to enlarge the board of directors by the post of deputy general secretary. The 34-year-old former Baden-Württemberg local politician Christina Stumpp is to take over. Czaja and Stumpp had won a direct mandate in the federal election.
Merz also supported the candidacies of the deputy party chairman Silvia Breher (48), Schleswig-Holstein’s education minister Karin Prien (56), Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (46) for the CDU federal executive committee.
Carsten Linnemann (44), head of the powerful economic union, is also supported by Merz. The ex-parliamentary group leader suggested that the five deputy party leaders stand for certain tasks in the future and thus become “visible”. Linnemann should lead the policy committee.
Merz is running for the third time in a row as party leader
Friedrich Merz has lost twice so far. But he now sees a different starting position. “This time almost everything is different,” said Merz. This time the members would be involved and the CDU would be fairly certain in the opposition. Merz also emphasized that with him there would be no “rightward shift” in the party.
Also in the running for the CDU chairmanship are the foreign politician Norbert Röttgen (56), who like Merz comes from North Rhine-Westphalia, and the previous head of the Chancellery Helge Braun (49) from Hesse.
After the defeat in the Bundestag election, the CDU will for the first time carry out a member survey on December 4, who will be the new party leader and thus successor to Armin Laschet (60). Only those who are nominated by a state, district or district association or one of the CDU federal associations can compete. The nomination period ends on Wednesday. If none of the candidates receives an absolute majority in the first ballot, there will be a runoff election for the first two from December 29th. After polling the grassroots, the CDU wants to elect the new party leadership at a federal party conference in January.