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Friedrich Merz has once again voiced his discontent over the postponement of the CDU party congress in various media. The cancellation of the event, which was actually scheduled for December 4, and thus the delay in the election of a new party leader was “the last part of the ‘prevent Merz’ campaign,” Merz told the “Welt.” .
This action goes “with the whole barrage of the establishment here in Berlin,” said the candidate for the party leadership. During the weekend’s deliberations, he proposed a digital party congress with subsequent vote-by-mail for a new president, which is legally possible.
However, the Union party leadership rejected it because the result would be known in the run-up to Christmas. “This cannot be expected from the population,” Merz said of the content of the talks.
It is not about him, Merz said in the ARD “Tagesthemen”. He has had good poll numbers for two years, and this will continue for weeks and months. He did not feel a conspiracy against him within the party. However, it is no secret “that I am not the darling of a part of the party leadership,” Merz said. But he will persevere and will not “allow himself to be worn out by this process,” said the politician in the “heute magazine” of the ZDF.
The 64-year-old is also combative. “In the polls, I have more approval than my two competitors put together,” Merz told the “world.” The rank and file of the party wanted “majority” his person for the chair. From the beginning, he assumed “that the fight to reorient the CDU will be a tough power struggle,” Merz said. “We have now entered the final phase of this struggle for power.”
Merz apparently fears that the postponement has occurred so that the other candidates can improve their chances of becoming party president. He has “very clear and unequivocal indications that Armin Laschet has issued the slogan: he needs more time to improve his performance,” Merz told the “Welt.”
It’s about the party’s ability to work and act, Merz said, also heading into December 7. On that date, the terms of many delegates to the party’s congresses ended. So many meetings would have to be held to elect new delegates. The term of the current board also expires.
The former leader of the Union parliamentary group also referred to the waning time until the federal elections. “We are running out of time,” Merz warned in “Daily Topics.” Monday’s decision can still be corrected. There is still time until November 4 to convene the party congress.
“How to prepare for an exam”
The leader of the trade union faction Ralph Brinkhaus, on the other hand, defended the postponement of the CDU party congress. “When weighing the pros and cons, health simply comes first,” said the CDU politician from the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.” In the ARD “Morgenmagazin”, however, he also expressed his understanding for Merz’s frustration. “I can understand that. It’s like preparing for an exam. And then the exam date is postponed. So of course you’re angry,” Brinkhaus said.
CDU federal vice president Silvia Breher also contradicted Merz. Postponing the party congress is not about “people and political calculation,” “Nordwest-Zeitung” told the Oldenburg. “In the current pandemic situation, we simply cannot hold a party conference in attendance. The other options will now be clarified and decided on December 14,” Breher explained.
Norbert Röttgen, who is applying for the chair alongside Merz and North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Armin Laschet, described the renewed postponement of the electoral party conference due to the crown pandemic as bitter, but welcomed it in principle. .
