A violent dispute has broken out in the CDU over the reorganization of the Bundestag faction. The social wing of the party, the Christian Democratic Workerships (CDA), feels that it has been left out when it comes to assigning posts. In addition, the wing accuses the group leaders of neglecting social policy.
The deputy federal chairman of the CDA, Dennis Radtke, said the Süddeutsche Zeitung, he was wondering where Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus and CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt “have been the last few weeks”. In the federal election, the Union lost “2.5 million votes to the SPD and the Greens in the social center”. But the top of the parliamentary group reacted to the election result by “taking away the spokesperson’s position in the field of labor and social affairs from the social wing”.
He sees “neither a new beginning nor a new departure, nor a balance in the distribution of offices,” said Radtke. If “is to become the benchmark for the direction of the Union, then we have a sad road ahead of us”.
When distributing the Bundestag committee chairs, the head of the Union faction, to the chagrin of the CDA, did not draw a single committee from the social field. The Bundestag committees for family and labor and social affairs went to the SPD, the health committee ended up with the AfD.
Karl-Josef Laumann, the federal chairman of the CDA, described the action of the Union faction leadership as “great folly”. In a decision of the CDA federal executive committee, the Süddeutsche Zeitung is available, it says: “We consider the positioning of the CDU / CSU leadership in the Bundestag to appoint the chairpersons of the working groups and the prioritization of the committees to be a serious mistake.” This lacks “any sense of the fine balance of a people’s party”.
CDA boss Laumann is also the health minister of North Rhine-Westphalia.
(Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd / dpa)
After these decisions one doubts “that the incumbent parliamentary group is in a position to properly position our CDU for the future”. With the decisions she made it clear “that she has learned nothing from the election errors”. As a consequence of the electoral defeat, all three candidates for the CDU federal chairmanship have “been campaigning for a stronger socio-political profile of the party” for weeks. But the top of the parliamentary group has “now made it clear: They have not recognized the signs of the times and are not taking the people in our country with them with this policy”.
With the chairmanship of the Labor and Social Working Group, an important traditional CDA position was “given to the CSU without need”, according to the CDA decision. And among the committee chairmen “deliberately all topics aimed at the internal cohesion of society were not considered”. The top of the group is making it clear that social policy is not a priority for them. This approach is said to be “unacceptable to the CDA”. One therefore expects the next CDU chairman “to correct this misalignment in terms of content at the latest when the parliamentary group is elected”. Because if you want a socio-political profile, you have to “put your words into action”.
In the election analysis of the CDU-affiliated Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, it is said that the Union has “lost a lot of acceptance” compared to the 2017 election “both in the key issues that determine the election and in its competencies”. The foundation also refers to the importance of social policy. In the federal election in September, the citizens were particularly interested in the issues of pensions (48 percent) and social justice (45 percent). Only 33 percent indicated climate protection.
“The social flank was our Achilles heel during the election campaign,” says CDA Vice Radtke from the workers’ wing. The CDU therefore finally needs “an antenna for little people” again.