Berlin Despite all the entreaties and wishes to come together again and without rivalries: they still exist, the fighting candidate in the CDU. When the 1001 delegates at the 34th federal party conference of the CDU digitally elect their new chairman this Saturday, there is no question who that will be. In addition to Friedrich Merz, the party must also appoint a new leadership team: five deputies and a federal treasurer, seven other members of the executive committee and 26 members of the federal executive board, for whom there are 39 applicants.
Especially in the Presidium, the party’s highest body, there is an involuntary scramble that the CDU members will pay particular attention to at the weekend. Until a few days ago there were only six candidates for the seven places, now there are eight.
Sauerland Merz personally went looking for a young woman for the presidency so that there would be a seventh candidate. First he asked the Junge Union (JU), then the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Construction Ina Scharrenbach. The 45-year-old agreed. But the JU was also successful and nominated the head of the young group of the Union faction in the Bundestag, Ronja Kemmer.
So now four women and four men are running for the seven places. The loser could be the head of the Frauen Union, Annette Widmann-Mauz. It would be a small tremor at the start of “Team Merz”.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Irrespective of this tussle, the new leaders swear in unison that the party should remember what a people’s party stands for: being a melting pot of social developments and interests, bundling positions, pouring them into programs and then giving them to the people to vote for.
Merz will face this task together with the new general secretary Mario Czaja, even if both are not known for being team players. “I hope that after the party conference, the start-up phase will follow relatively quickly,” said Merz before the party conference.
No arguments about people
The key to success is “togetherness,” emphasized future deputy party chairman Andreas Jung. The 46-year-old also quoted Heiner Geißler, who once led the party from the opposition to power as General Secretary under Helmut Kohl: “We need a fight – about content, not about people.”
Read more about:
That attitude seems to have caught on with everyone. “A people’s party only works if different positions can be identified in debates and then lead to a compromise that everyone supports,” said Karin Prien, Minister of Education in Schleswig-Holstein, who is also to become party vice president. Prien therefore expects “a cooperative management style” from Merz.
The People’s Party wants to go back to what the constitution provides for parties and how it is described in detail in the party law: people should have fun, get involved politically and shape their community, be a contact point to discuss and take responsibility and “ensure a constant living connection between the people and the state organs”.
In the past, however, many of these principles have been lost in the Union. The fight for power and position alone prevailed, the members of the presidency argued urgently about who was allowed to be on which talk show next.
The result: After 16 years as chancellor, Angela Merkel fell into a historic hole of only 24.1 percent of the votes in the federal elections. The number of members fell from 572,000 (2005) to 384,000 most recently, and the proportion of women has leveled off at around a quarter over the past twenty years.
Problem child CSU
The CSU, once the guarantee for absolute majorities in Bavaria and thus for many votes in the federal government, is in decline and is currently only 36 percent in polls. The party leadership around Markus Söder has long since put aside the matter of convincing more than half of the voters.
“Today, there are practically no absolute majorities anywhere in Europe. Society has become more differentiated, and Bavaria has also changed,” CSU General Secretary Markus Blume recently explained.
So there are enough reasons to rehearse unity in order to reach new heights. When dealing with the CSU, Merz said confidently before the party conference: “We’re simply restoring the dress code and good cooperation.” The CDU is by far the larger of the two Union parties.
Merz is certain that the CDU and CSU have “a complementary relationship with each other, which is basically an ideal combination for optimally exploiting the voting potential of both parties”. He said to the CSU and will say it now at the CDU party conference: “Something like 2021 must not and will not be repeated under my leadership of the CDU.” At that time, a conflict between CDU man Armin Laschet and CSU politician Markus Söder about the chancellor candidacy broke out.
Conflicts within the Union parties like before the 2021 federal election should no longer exist under Merz.
(Photo: dpa)
The official result of the postal vote will be available on January 31st. After that, Merz will attend the exam of the CSU state group in Berlin as the first public appointment on February 2nd. In addition to Merz, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst, will also appear there.
After all, four important state elections have to be passed this year: in Saarland, in Schleswig-Holstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia and in Lower Saxony.
For Merz, passing well means “primarily that we become the strongest parliamentary group in all four state parliaments. We can do that.” Whether the formation of a government will then succeed or not is a question that is not solely in the hands of the CDU.
The CDU is currently the prime minister in Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia. In Saarland, the CDU is behind in the polls, as is in Schleswig-Holstein, where dark clouds are looming on the horizon within the party and could influence the election campaign.
Next scandal is already waiting
There, an inner-party dispute rages over the President of the State Parliament, Klaus Schlie, who is active in the real estate business and is accused of nepotism in his own local association. Detailed dossiers are now circulating about his behavior and the supposed combination of political and business work.
The head of the local Junge Union is already speaking publicly of “Amigo politics”. Others see a similar quality to the mask affair that shook the CDU and CSU last year.
The Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther has so far remained silent on the events. But the SPD did get involved: “I am very surprised by these sideline activities of the President of the State Parliament,” said State Chairwoman Serpil Midyatli.
The politician announced that she wanted to review the transparency rules in the state parliament, since Schlie had not disclosed all of his sideline activities. “Until then, all parliamentary groups and parties are asked to clarify how many MPs in their own ranks use a comparable construct,” she demanded.
It could be the next tremor that reaches the CDU and could hinder a successful restart.
More: How Friedrich Merz is trying to solve the CDU’s male problem