It is of course only a coincidence that Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s birthday is today – but this coincidence fits perfectly. The Federal President turned 66 on Wednesday. And the CDU and CSU have given him a nice present. In a joint video conference, the presidia of the two parties spoke out in favor of re-electing Steinmeier as Federal President.
The Union parties make up the largest parliamentary group in the Federal Assembly. The SPD, FDP and the Greens had already announced that they would vote for Steinmeier. He can now be sure that he will be confirmed in office by the Federal Assembly on February 13th – and that with a very large majority. The traffic light and the Union parties together make up more than 80 percent of the electorate in the Federal Assembly.
It won’t be a woman again
However, it is also clear that the very highest office in the state remains the only one of the five highest offices that has never been occupied by a woman. Women have already headed the Federal Council, the Federal Government and the Federal Constitutional Court – and the current President of the Bundestag is the Social Democrat Bärbel Bas.
In the past few weeks there had been a debate in the CDU about whether a woman should not be nominated as a candidate for the presidency. Some also linked this with the hope of being able to drive such a crack in the new traffic light coalition. Because the Greens have long been talking about the need for a Federal President one day. In the debate, the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) stood out in particular. He had declared that the time was “ripe for a woman in Bellevue Palace”. A Federal President could give important new impulses, especially at this time when social cohesion is “becoming the foremost reason of state”.
But the Union and the Greens do not have a majority in the Federal Assembly either. In addition, the Greens did not want to risk a coalition crisis. And no woman seems to have found herself who is equally enthusiastic about the CDU, CSU and Greens and who would have been ready to plunge into the uncertain adventure.
There have been contacts with the Greens in recent weeks, said CDU leader Armin Laschet at a press conference in Berlin’s Konrad-Adenauer-Haus on Wednesday. Of course, the designated party chairman Friedrich Merz was also involved. However, Laschet did not want to say more about the talks with the Greens. For this he praised Steinmeier at his appearance in such a way that the Federal President’s ears should have rang.
In the past few years as Federal President, Steinmeier has “passionately strengthened our democracy and solidarity in our country,” said Laschet. One is currently experiencing “centrifugal social forces that are dividing our country in many ways”, particularly in the debate about the corona measures. At a time like this, what is needed at the head of the state is “a credible voice that brings together and does not exclude”, a voice that repeatedly and non-partisanly focuses on the common good, “a voice that initiates the necessary debates and in the spirit of democracy Compensatory also brings together different points of view “.
Steinmeier is a Federal President “with high domestic political recognition and appreciation and special foreign policy competence”, he is “a convinced European” and he represents “Germany excellently abroad,” said Laschet. He is “a man with convictions of values, a committed evangelical Christian who does not hide his faith” and “for that very reason credibly promotes the dialogue between religions and cultures in our country”.
Germany could be “happy” about such a Federal President. For all these reasons, the CDU is now campaigning for Steinmeier to be re-elected, whom they voted for when he was first elected five years ago. In addition, it is right for democratic culture to keep a Federal President out of the party-political hiccups.
Söder: Steinmeier did a great job for the country
CSU boss Markus Söder also insisted on paying close attention to Steinmeier. At an appearance in Munich, Söder said that the Federal President had “rendered outstanding services to our country”. He had “shown a serious, integrative and non-partisan administration”. In addition, he finds the right words in “difficult times”, he has “the compass and understanding for people”, but also “clear attitudes and clear views”. He also proved this when, in 2017, after the failure of the Jamaica coalition negotiations, he contributed to “a good democratic solution” being reached with the grand coalition.
The CSU could therefore re-elect Steinmeier as Federal President “with a clear conscience”, said Söder. The Union parties could of course have made their own proposal, there would have been “a number of outstanding personalities in the Union, including the CSU” – but that would have been “a bad sign in these troubled and troubled times”. However, the CSU chief did not say who these “outstanding personalities” should have been.
Before moving into Bellevue Palace, Steinmeier was foreign minister, SPD parliamentary group leader, vice chancellor and – still under Gerhard Schröder – head of the Federal Chancellery. Now he can look forward to five more years as Federal President.
Oh yes: Incidentally, it is also Söder’s birthday today. However, he was not given a re-election guarantee, but only a cake from the CSU state management.