Serap Güler – The possible new CDU general secretary wants to align the party more socially

Serap Güler at her press conference with Helge Braun

The Cologne politician describes herself as the children of a working-class family. She wants to align the CDU more socially.

(Photo: dpa)

Berlin The surprise candidate succeeded in another surprise: At first, the executive head of the Chancellery, Helge Braun, 49, was smiled at a little when he announced that he would apply for the CDU chairmanship. According to many in the party, Braun has no chance against the two competitors Norbert Röttgen and Friedrich Merz.

Some of these critics have now quieter. This is mainly due to the team that Braun presented. He will stand together with the Cologne Bundestag member Serap Güler and the digital politician Nadine Schön. “Strong women” would play a “strong role” in the future, said Braun.

If the still head of the Chancellery is elected CDU chairman, he wants to make Guler the new general secretary. It would play a key role in rebuilding the CDU after its historic defeat in the federal elections.

This is an unexpected turning point for Guler too. The 41-year-old had clearly lost to the SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach in her constituency. And at first it looked as if she had missed the entry into the Bundestag. But then she made it through the country list. And now the new member of the Bundestag is fighting together with Braun for the CDU leadership.

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It’s another step for a politician who embodies an ascension story. Güler’s father, a so-called Turkish guest worker, was a miner, her mother later went cleaning. “I’m the child of a working-class family,” said Guler when she performed with Braun.

She trained as a hotel manager herself before studying communication sciences at the University of Duisburg-Essen. She said she knew what it was like to make the bed for other people or to clean the bathroom. Accordingly, Guler wants to position the CDU as a party of hard-working people.

Braun and his desired Secretary General are not alone with this strategy. Merz and Röttgen have also announced that they want to emphasize the social again. All three applicants for the CDU post are united by the knowledge that the SPD has scored points with the voters with clear promises such as a stable pension or affordable rents.

Guler, who is also a member of the CDA workers’ wing, could credibly sell such a more social positioning. And as a woman with a migration background, she shows that the CDU is not a club for old men.

Integrate and polarize

Güler, who has been a member of the federal executive committee for nine years, is considered a confidante of the CDU boss Armin Laschet. During his time as Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, she was State Secretary for Integration. Accordingly, many people place it on the liberal wing of the party. She clearly criticizes attempts to move the CDU to the right. When the former President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, was nominated as a candidate for the Bundestag in a Thuringian constituency, she publicly reprimanded her party friends: “You really didn’t hear the bang.”

Still, she doesn’t want to be stuck in any party drawer. In fact, she also takes conservative positions in security policy. She also warns against overburdening the country’s ability to integrate with further immigrants.

Nevertheless, some from the Merz camp see Guler critically and find their tone too confrontational towards conservative party friends. It was quickly noted that she had also blocked many party friends on Twitter, for example. Can someone like that then represent the entire party?

“She can discuss, sometimes polarize and also integrate,” said Braun about Guler. Polarization is absolutely necessary for a general secretary – as soon as the reorganization of the CDU has been completed, it must then be directed against the political opponent.

More: Fight for the CDU chairmanship: How Merz, Röttgen and Braun advertise themselves

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