Delegates hold up their voting cards at the federal party conference of the CDU.
(Photo: dpa)
Berlin The CDU lives, at least in its ideological trenches. At the first party congress in the opposition, the camps did not duel over the election of a new chairman – as in 2018 and 2020. Friedrich Merz won these battles – and consolidated his position with a good speech this year.
No, this time it was about the emotionally charged women’s quota, with which the party wants to fill offices equally from 2025. The Women’s Union prevailed, the Young Union and the Union for Small and Medium-sized Businesses were narrowly defeated with 559 to 409 votes. Anyone who thought that the combatants would then shake hands was mistaken: there was talk of “fraud”, some spoke of leaving the party.
It was once the hallmark of the Union to argue fiercely, but then come to terms and then fight together. After all, the party wants to govern and not concern itself with itself.
In Hanover there was little of the “we” feeling. The party stands at the beginning of a new era. This was revealed in the discussion about a new basic program.
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“We were and we will again be the German People’s Party,” the head of the Basic Values Commission told the delegates. Between “were” and “become” stands the present. In the here and now, the CDU must reinvent itself as a people’s party – in terms of content and structure.
Content and structures of the party are mutually dependent
Content and structure are inevitably connected. With content, a party convinces people to present the better concepts for the future. However, the CDU will only become an opinion leader if it is open to society and members and elected representatives have their finger on the pulse of the times, in clubs and organizations. It is best for them to be part of these groups themselves, both men and women. That makes a party the transmission belt of social interests.
It’s difficult to get back together and become a people’s party. First you have to struggle to find the right words. Should the basic values be “bourgeois” or rather “Christian-democratic”? Are equality and equal rights the same, different or complementary?
All of this is tormenting and takes a lot of strength – and time. The crises in the world and the weakness of the government may already awaken hopes in some unionists that they will soon be in government again. But the CDU urgently needs to take the time to torment itself, to shape itself and to give a compass. Only a party that knows its way can take others on the same path.
More: “We are not in Bullerbü”: CDU leader Merz attacks Habeck