Candidates for party chairmanship: The CDU has no cleaver

Staff emaciated, gutted in terms of content, no convincing management staff: the CDU has no one who can convince young voters of promising concepts.

Hold on: Angela Merkel reaches for the CDU chairmanship – let go: not true. At least not really. It’s about Helge Braun, but it comes out almost to the same thing. Braun is Merkel’s right-hand man in the Chancellery, he embodies her politics like no other. And those who want continuity will be happy that Braun has declared: I’ll do it – I’ll run for office.

The only question is: how many CDU members want a continuation of Merkel’s central policy? That is difficult to say, but one thing is clear: Braun definitely does not stand for new beginnings. He is another disappointment for everyone who secretly hopes that the CDU also has a Lars Klingbeil. But it doesn’t. The CDU is emaciated in terms of personnel. It is not only gutted in terms of content, it also has no convincing management staff.

The usual suspects

Besides Braun, there are only the usual suspects, those who have always wanted to be party leader. Norbert Röttgen, for example: He wants to modernize the party, and he actually managed to find a woman who wants to become his general secretary. Nobody else has achieved more to this day. But a young woman doesn’t make anyone party leader. Röttgen, clever and competent, would probably be the best candidate in terms of content, but he does not have a fan base in the CDU. He is considered a soloist, aloof to arrogant, not one for the people who want the CDU to win over again.

The other re-candidate is probably Friedrich Merz. The man who is bursting with self-confidence even though he has already lost two presidential elections. Merz tends to run for office – that much is known. Merz also tends to overestimate himself. Even if he gets a majority in the party this time, it won’t be enough for majorities in the population.

Desperate search for a figure of light

The CDU needs someone who can convince young voters of promising concepts – in terms of content and personally. But in the CDU there is no cleaver, no Habeck, not even a Lindner. And certainly not a Baerbock.

This is how the CDU stands there after all the Merkel years – battered, chipped, worn out, divided into camps. And in the desperate search for a figure of light who seems light years away.