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The CDU leadership has managed to resolve the dispute over the date and form of the next federal party conference. CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and General Secretary Paul Ziemiak had struggled in recent days to reach a compromise between the three candidates for the party leadership. This has already been achieved. Ziemiak tweeted on Saturday night that Armin Laschet, Friedrich Merz and Norbert Röttgen had agreed “after intensive consultation” to ask the CDU’s federal executive board to hold the party conference in mid-January 2021. “This agreement it is a strong sign of cohesion in our party, “wrote Ziemiak.
Kramp-Karrenbauer had already announced his withdrawal from the CDU presidency in February. Initially, it was planned to elect a successor at a party congress in April. Then the meeting had to be canceled due to the pandemic. An agreement was then reached on a party congress on December 4. Due to the rapid increase in the number of new corona infections, the federal board also overturned this date last Monday.
Friedrich Merz later made serious accusations. Important parts of the “party establishment” wanted to prevent him from becoming the head of the CDU, Merz complained. Therefore, the December date has been postponed indefinitely. This is “a decision against the base of the CDU” and “the last part of the action ‘prevent Merz'” in the CDU. The newspaper world Merz even said he had “very clear and unequivocal indications that Armin Laschet issued the slogan: he needed more time to improve his performance.” Because he, Merz, leads “clearly in all the polls.”
The dispute had caused enormous tension in the CDU in recent days. The relief on the settled argument is correspondingly great. Secretary-General Ziemiak wrote that he was “very happy that the candidates send this strong sign of unity.”
Laschet, Merz and Röttgen have now not only agreed on a common preferred date, but also a procedure. “The candidates prefer a party conference with a central presence,” Ziemiak wrote. “If that and a party conference with a decentralized presence were not possible, they advocate an online party conference with digital election of the federal executive committee.” This digital election should “then be confirmed by a single final written vote.” The detailed procedure and legal and technical issues must finally be decided on December 14 at a meeting of the CDU’s federal executive committee.
The first “CDU live talk” of the three candidates, which is actually scheduled for next Tuesday, in which they wanted to introduce themselves to party members, should now be postponed due to the current Corona situation and recover in time before the party conference.
Norbert Röttgen welcomed the compromise. He was very satisfied that a good solution had been found for the party’s federal conference so that it could now take place in January, Röttgen said. The CDU must quickly clarify its open “leadership question” and “then focus on the upcoming election campaigns with renewed force.” That is now possible. Friedrich Merz spoke of a good compromise, which he welcomed. Armin Laschet emphasized that the most important thing these days is to get the country out of the corona pandemic. That is why the presidium of the CDU decided last Monday to postpone the federal conference of the party with its 1000 delegates. The CDU “needs clarity for the new year,” which is what the joint proposal of the three candidates serves.
The next Bundestag is expected to be elected on September 26, 2021. Before that, the CDU not only has to elect a new president, the party must also reach an agreement with the CSU on a candidate for chancellor. This is another reason why Merz demanded last week, with Röttgen’s support, that the CDU party conference be held as soon as possible.
