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The CDU party conference has started. There is fear of tomorrow’s election of the new party leader. Because the starting position offers material for discomfort.
By Kristin Schwietzer, ARD capital studio
“We have three very good candidates. Everyone, Merz, Röttgen or Laschet can lead the party and yes, the country too.” Something like this resonates in the digital world of the CDU. Video press conferences with senior staff before Election Day sounded similar. The CDU mantra is unity, whatever happens. He remembered a bit the phrase that the Chancellor has often said: “The Minister has my fullest confidence.” After that, he often left quickly. Trust equals resignation? Unity equals disunity?
A ghost lurks before the election of the new party leader, and that means fear. Fear that there is no unity. At the very least, the prerequisites for a dispute are great. The starting position is confusing.
All winners
Each camp conveys confidence. But in the end there will be hardly any winners.
example Norbert Röttgen. He is the first to raise his hand in public. However, Röttgen has long been considered an outsider. But the longer the process takes, the more profile the CDU’s clever foreign politician gains. “The CDU must become more feminine, younger and more digital.” Such sentences go well with the women and youth of the party. Röttgen is gaining ground in the polls.
His electoral defeat in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2012 is a long way off, also because Röttgen intelligently integrates him into his conversations. Sometimes you have to be able to forgive, say some delegates. He could be the surprise candidate for a second round of voting. If it weren’t for this interview on the “Augsburger Allgemeine”. The fact that Röttgen rejects a coalition with the FDP is like a blow to the office of other party members.
For many in the CDU, the FDP remains, despite some injuries, the most agreeable partner in the government bank. This statement could at least slow down Röttgen’s career to catch up.
Brighter edge
example Friedrich Merz: Promises the party more profile and a clear advantage. More passion, more discussion: a promise of longing for conservatives. They have been licking their wounds under Merkel for a long time.
Compulsory military service is suspended, marriage is imposed for everyone. Phantom pain continues to take effect. With Merz, they hope it can be different. Finally, politics from the stomach again, you can hear some raving about it. Doing too much from the stomach can sometimes be a problem. Merz recently tweeted: “On the one hand, the finance minister has enough money for all projects, on the other hand, he wants a new envy tax on higher incomes. That doesn’t fit.”
The word tax on envy becomes a hashtag on the Internet and sparks a heated debate. In Merz’s warehouse, people find him personable, human, knowing full well that something like this could be a trap for him. At least Merz is still ahead in the grassroots polls. However, there could be a runoff between him and Armin Laschet.
example Armin laschet: You waited a long, long time before deciding to run. And then he drove two by two. His passenger was the real surprise.
No one would have believed that Jens Spahn was sitting in the passenger seat. That was smart of Laschet. He’s good at it, even involving people who are not politically close to him. Laschet can mediate. As president of the state and prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, he demonstrated that and brought the different streams together. Laschet has only one problem: his perception: the kind Mr. Laschet next door. At least in the polls, the base really doesn’t like it. And that now also makes the passenger nervous. Constantly grab the wheel or let others do it.
Not legally binding until January 22
“Jens Spahn can also be chancellor,” says Bernd Althusmann, leader of the Lower Saxony CDU, at a press conference before the party conference. The problem for Spahn: He only gets into the driver’s seat if Laschet lets him. And that’s not what it looks like right now. Whoever wins the race at the end, however, cannot be sure that they will actually occupy a seat in the Adenauer-Haus executive chair.
Because only the confirmation by postal vote on January 22 is legally binding. Until then, the new president must keep his feet still and not provoke, so that the defeated sides do not fire the newly elected party leader with a bad result from the start. And it is not known with certainty if he will be a candidate for chancellor. So there are still some imponderables ahead of the new head of the CDU. This is probably one of the reasons why people appeal so much and often to the famous unit these days.
