The foreign politician wants to take over the chairmanship of the CDU.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin Norbert Röttgen is the first again: On Friday, the foreign politician officially announced his candidacy for the CDU chairmanship in Berlin. At the federal press conference he presented his plan for how he wants to restore the CDU to its former strength as the “people’s party of the middle class” after the devastating general election.
Much is reminiscent of February 2020. Back then, too, Röttgen was the first to officially venture to apply as CDU boss. Armin Laschet and Friedrich Merz followed as candidates. Röttgen was only third at the party congress in January 2021.
Röttgen now explains that he did not expect a victory at the time. But this time it is different, he has “the assessment and determination to be elected”.
The candidates have until November 17th to be nominated for the CDU chairmanship. Then the 400,000 members decide in a survey who should be the successor to party leader Armin Laschet. The basic decision makes the outcome particularly difficult to calculate.
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According to Röttgen, the executive head of the Chancellery, Helge Braun, should make his application official on Friday. At a virtual state board meeting of the Hessian CDU, the 49-year-old wants to present the reasons for his candidacy, then his district association Gießen should nominate him.
Röttgen will be officially set up by his association Rhein-Sieg-Kreis on Monday. Then Friedrich Merz is still missing. In the party, everyone expects that the former Union faction leader will run again. It will be his third attempt to become CDU boss in three years.
Röttgen promotes the People’s Party in the Middle
Röttgen did not want to say anything about the potential competitors, only that he had spoken to them beforehand. He appreciates Merz, emphasized Röttgen. This belongs to an “important function in the CDU”. Just don’t stop as party leader, Röttgen wants to become that himself. And his ideas for the chair sound very different from Merz’s. Röttgen presents itself as an alternative to the conservative economic politician.
He is running, “out of the deep conviction that there is no more going on like this, and certainly no turning back,” said Röttgen. Röttgen had already presented itself as a modernizer when the last decision to take the chairmanship was made. And so he is now advertising again. With the announcement “no turning back” he differentiates himself from Merz, whom his critics see as a representative of an old CDU of the 1990s. And “no more so” is the difference to Braun, the confidante of the current chancellor Angela Merkel, who belongs to the establishment of the party and the previous federal government.
The core analysis that Röttgen presented on Friday was: The CDU lost the federal election in the middle – against the SPD, FDP and the Greens. “We will win back the votes in the middle,” said Röttgen. To do this, the CDU chairman must embody this center of society, even if there must also be room in the party for conservative and economically liberal currents.
Another focus that Röttgen, the former environment minister, wants to do is climate protection. In order to win over the young generation to the CDU, it is important that the party leader credibly stands for climate protection. This is also a feature with which Röttgen wants to score points over Merz. Otherwise, the foreign politician presented topics that are expected of him: the commitment to Europe and the transatlantic partnership, a commitment to the social market economy.
Hoppermann is to become the general secretary
To announce his candidacy, Röttgen brought reinforcements with him: Franziska Hoppermann, MP from Hamburg. In the event of his election as party chairman, she should become general secretary. Hoppermann is also the head of the Women’s Union in Hamburg.
In addition, Röttgen said something like a job guarantee for Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus. With the party chairmanship, he will be busy, so Röttgen. He wants to forego the chairmanship of the parliamentary group. He has already spoken to Brinkhaus about this, even if there is no agreement between the two, as Röttgen emphasized. This attempt to win over others with team offers also includes the announcement by Röttgen that in the future a representative of an East German CDU regional association will definitely become deputy party chairman.
The new chairman of the CDU, which currently has around 400,000 members, is to be elected at a federal party conference on January 21 in Hanover. Before that, the CDU wants to conduct a member survey for the first time in its history. There the decision will actually be made as to who will be at the head of the party in the future. Unsuccessful applicants should not compete at the party congress.
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