Berlin There is movement in the search for a new CDU leader: On Wednesday evening, the acting Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn declared in a meeting of the Union parliamentary group that he would not apply. Spahn was quoted by participants as saying that he would not go into internal party election campaigns and run for party leader. He wanted to concentrate on his work as minister until the last minute, especially in view of the current pandemic.
So far, Spahn has been considered a potential candidate for the CDU chairmanship. The former Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz and foreign politician Norbert Röttgen are also interested. They would each search intensively for a woman in order to form a “People’s Party Team”, as it was called in the party. But the undertaking does not seem easy. In any case, nobody has yet declared themselves.
Spahn doesn’t seem to fit into any team. For a few days it has been said in the CDU that the Minister of Health will not join Merz or Röttgen. “I’m in the Union team,” said Spahn, according to participants in the Union faction.
Potential candidates should be nominated by November 17th, according to the CDU’s schedule. While Spahn has now ruled out an application, Merz and Röttgen could get another competitor: Helge Braun. According to a spokesman for the Hessian CDU, the previous head of the Chancellery and confidante of Angela Merkel is to be nominated by his home association Gießen as a candidate for the party’s national chairmanship.
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At a virtual state board meeting of the party on Friday, the 49-year-old will present the reasons for his application, said a spokesman for the state CDU on Wednesday evening. The nomination by the Gießen district association should also take place on Friday. It had previously been announced that Braun should have the support of the Hessian CDU chairman Volker Bouffier for a candidacy as the successor to the outgoing party leader Armin Laschet.
Michael Meister, previously Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Education, also publicly promotes his party friend. “Helge Braun is a clever person with ideas for the future,” said Meister to the Handelsblatt. “He can formulate precise messages and penetrate complex issues.”
Meanwhile, the party has a growing desire for a surprise candidate. The CDU members should decide. After the historic election debacle, many at the CDU base are longing for a real fresh start. As a confidante of Merkel with support from the previous government camp, Braun does not stand for this.
The previous head of the Chancellery and confidante of Angela Merkel is considering a candidacy, it is said.
(Photo: Hans Christian Plambeck / laif)
In the Hessian CDU there are therefore doubts as to whether Braun is the right candidate for the state association. Especially since he lost his direct mandate in Gießen for the first time since 2005, which may also have been due to his corona policy. What was particularly remembered was that shortly before Easter he enforced the Corona rest days with Merkel – a project that turned out to be unrealizable just a day later and was cleared away by Merkel.
Giessen is not only Braun’s home, but also that of Prime Minister Bouffier, who as a member of the Presidium alongside Wolfgang Schäuble fought vehemently for Laschet as candidate for Chancellor. “Not everyone has forgiven him for that,” says the regional association – one of the most conservative within the CDU. Many people there long for Merz, who celebrates his 66th birthday this Thursday.
And so a completely different question arises: Will the almost 70-year-old Bouffier still be elected to the party’s presidium at the federal party conference on January 21 – or would 49-year-old Braun be the alternative? Despite the defeat in the federal election, the vice-post would get him the chance to succeed Bouffier – as prime minister.
While the candidates for the chair are still covered, there is movement in the second row. A new leadership is emerging, regardless of who should be the chairman in the end: The Baden-Württemberg state chief Thomas Strobl is withdrawing. “I will not run again,” he told the Handelsblatt. In the regional association, they are currently fighting about the successor: The Bundestag member Steffen Bilger, 42, head of the largest district association, offers himself.
Andreas Jung could be the laughing third
However, Annette Widmann-Mauz, 55, head of the Women’s Union, also raised her hand. A laughing third could be Andreas Jung: The 46-year-old climate and finance expert from the Bundestag parliamentary group also heads the Baden-Württemberg regional group there.
After moving into the Bundestag in 2017, the CDU politician has had a steep career.
(Photo: dpa)
Another new face could be Karin Prien. The Schleswig-Holstein Minister of Education has announced her candidacy and could succeed Julia Klöckner from Rhineland-Palatinate, who will probably no longer run. Silvia Breher is considered set. “She is being wooed by everyone,” it says in the party. The potential presidency candidates are vying for them.
She has had a steep career since Breher moved into the Bundestag in 2017. From the backbencher in parliament, she made it to the party’s deputy chairman. In November 2019 she succeeded Ursula von der Leyen in the presidium. This means that Breher has been with us long enough to be able to demonstrate experience and have a network – but also briefly enough not to be part of the establishment. She may even run for the chair herself.
With material from the dpa.
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