Baden-Württemberg
Strobl announces withdrawal from CDU state chairmanship in the southwest
Thomas Strobl comes to a presidium meeting of the CDU Baden-Württemberg. photo
© Marijan Murat/dpa
Thomas Strobl repeatedly led the Southwest CDU out of the crisis. But many in the regional association now see him as the problem himself. Now he is making room for a new beginning.
Thomas Strobl will not run for office again CDU state chairmanship in Baden-Württemberg. The 63-year-old told the CDU presidium this, as the dpa learned from participants. He has led the regional association since 2011. SWR initially reported.
Strobl is said to be proposing parliamentary group leader Manuel Hagel as his successor. Strobl himself reportedly wants to remain interior minister and deputy head of government.
For many months, 35-year-old Hagel has been said to have ambitions for the post of CDU state leader – and for the top candidate for the 2026 state elections. Hagel has not yet made any public statements. In the end, the CDU state party conference in November will decide.
Baden-Württemberg was politically firmly in the grip of the CDU for almost six decades. In 2011, the state elections brought a spectacular turnaround: after 58 years, the party lost power to the green-red coalition. The CDU was in opposition until 2016, which was a completely new experience for them.
Since then, the Christian Democrats have governed as junior partners with the Greens with Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens). Thomas Strobl has led the party since 2011. The Interior Minister is under political pressure because of the affair surrounding the police inspector and a related investigative committee.