Union also supports Steinmeier’s second term in office

Frank-Walter Steinmeier

It has been 13 years since a Federal President applied for a second term.

(Photo: dpa)

Berlin, Munich After the SPD, Greens and FDP, the Union also supports a second term in office for Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The presidia of the CDU and CSU decided on Wednesday a corresponding recommendation to their own electorate in the Federal Assembly, as the German Press Agency learned from participants in a joint video conference.

Just six weeks before the election on February 13, the head of state can count on broad approval for a further five-year term. Steinmeier, who turned 66 on Wednesday, has been Federal President since 2017.

After the positioning of the Ampel coalition parties for the former foreign minister from the ranks of the SPD, there were already signs of support for Steinmeier in the Union. According to information from the German Press Agency from party circles, the tenor in the CDU leadership was that there was satisfaction with his administration. The Union initially left open whether it wanted to send its own candidate into the race.

The CDU / CSU recently said that many could well imagine Steinmeier’s further term in office. On Tuesday, the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) also made a statement. “The office of Federal President deserves respect. Out of this state political responsibility, I will personally support Frank-Walter Steinmeier for a second term of office, ”said Wüst to the newspapers of the Funke media group and the editorial network Germany.

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In December, Wüst had called for the Union to run with its own candidate. Now he said: “I have always made it clear that there can be no candidacy without the prospect of a majority – that would only damage the desire for more women in the highest state offices after Angela Merkel said goodbye.”

After the SPD and FDP, the Greens also voted for Steinmeier’s re-election on Tuesday. According to research by the German Press Agency, the SPD, Greens and FDP will together make up 776 of the 1,472 members of the Federal Assembly. That is 39 more than are required in the first and second ballot if, according to Article 54 of the Basic Law, an absolute majority is required.

More: Greens clear the way for Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s second term in office

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