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Status: 04/03/2023 09:13 a.m
Kai Wegner could become Berlin’s next governing mayor. The head of the capital’s CDU is only a step away from the Red City Hall – even if he lacks important experience.
Kai Wegner does not celebrate. He didn’t triumph on election night when his CDU went through the roof in the projections, nor in the days that followed. On the evening of the election, he spoke of an “equal footing” that he wanted to show in talks with the SPD and the Greens – even though both parties finished far behind him. The fact that he put on the kid gloves is largely due to the appearance of his CDU in the election campaign.
Back in December, Wegner would never have dreamed of such a success. The CDU was doing well in the polls, but remained at a distance from the leading Greens. But then came the turn of the year. The riots on New Year’s Eve suddenly changed the agenda. In the election campaign, internal security suddenly dominated.
The CDU polarized in the election campaign
Sharp tones come from the top of the CDU. Federal party leader Friedrich Merz is heating up the debate, speaking of “young people from the Arab world” who behave like “little pashas” and are not willing “to stick to the rules in Germany”. And the CDU faction in the Berlin House of Representatives wants to know the first names of the German suspects from the Senate.
It is not Wegner’s idea to ask this question. As the leader of the parliamentary group, he does not stop them, despite allegations of racism. Instead, he tries to be affectionate. There are “Berlin boys” in the third generation with a German passport who don’t feel like they belong. His green competitor Bettina Jarasch had previously spoken of “Berlin boys” several times.
SPD and Greens at a distance
Wegner was not harmed by the provocative question on election day – on the contrary. It should at least have helped push the AfD below the ten percent mark. However, the risk that Wegner took with this course was high. SPD and Greens went noticeably at a distance. It could have been an election victory without gaining power.
In the exploratory talks, Wegner first had to sweep up the shards of the election campaign. He did that surprisingly well, especially with the Greens. In the end, the talks with them were so heartfelt that Wegner undisguised melancholy resonated when he announced coalition negotiations with the SPD – because of the larger overlaps in content. The appreciative words to the Greens were not too short.
Wegner was long considered a conservative hardliner
The fact that Wegner himself was rather reserved in the security debate during the election campaign is by no means self-evident when looking at his CV. Twenty years ago he too would probably have reached out verbally. Up until the 2000s, he was considered a conservative hardliner.
Not even of age, he joined the CDU in 1989, was head of the student union and the Junge Union, was a district councilor in his hometown Berlin-Spandau, sat and sits again in the House of Representatives and in between 16 years in the Bundestag. This phase in particular shaped him and allowed him to think outside the box.
Political junkie with networker talent
Since then, the splits have increasingly become his favorite gymnastics exercise: not scaring off old party friends and winning new ones at the same time. That has been his credo since he took office as state chairman in 2019. In transport policy, for example, the CDU rediscovered the bicycle under his leadership.
“When I talk to young people today, some still have a driver’s license, but there is no longer a great desire to have their own car,” Wegner stated in front of party friends in 2020 and prepared to tear the CDU away from the image of the motorists’ party to free. Two years later, during the election campaign, he decides to be more of a car lobbyist. “Berlin, don’t let your car be banned” read the election posters.
The party, which had been shaken by intrigues for decades, sticks together under his leadership. There is some resentment, but since winning the election no one has questioned Wegner’s claim to leadership. This also has to do with the fact that Wegner is a political junkie with proven networker qualities. Being there for the party “seven days a week, tirelessly” isn’t a duty for him, it’s a passion.
Never worked in an authority
This uncompromising commitment to politics, coupled with his flair for political developments, should now be more important to him than ever. Because he lacks something important for the job as head of government: administrative experience. The trained insurance salesman has never worked in an authority, let alone managed one. As Governing Mayor, he would move into a town hall that had been firmly in the hands of the SPD for 22 years. There shouldn’t be a lack of pitfalls and blunders.
On top of that, the time that Wegner has to make a name for himself is extremely short: there are just three and a half years until the next election. Three and a half years in which he has to show that he can not only keep his party together but also govern a city in a coalition.