party congress
Merkel does not want to become CDU honorary chairman – and gives Merz a basket
CDU party conference? honorary chair? Dinner with Merz? Angela Merkel has other plans
© Danny Gohlke / DPA
Has Angela Merkel completely finished with politics and her party? In any case, the ex-chancellor has no interest in becoming honorary chairwoman. She also stays away from a dinner after the election of the new party leader.
No nostalgic look back: Ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel has no interest in being appointed honorary chairwoman of the CDU. That said the outgoing party leader Armin Laschet on RTL / n-tv. According to Laschet, Merkel had come to the decision that such an office was no longer appropriate. In any case, Merkel’s interest in the relaunch of her party seems to be limited. She stays away from the party conference, rejecting an invitation to dinner with the newly elected chairman Merz, as reported by “Spiegel”.
Merkel, like former party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, canceled, the magazine reported. According to information from Union circles, Merz had invited all living former CDU chairmen. Laschet and Wolfgang Schäuble would have agreed. According to information from her office, Merkel’s refusal was justified with “scheduled reasons”. In the case of Kramp-Karrenbauer, which Merz had defeated in a previous presidential election, private matters were cited as the reason.
Angela Merkel: No interest in reconciliation gesture
With the invitation, Merz also wanted to set a sign of reconciliation with Merkel, the “Spiegel” reported. The relationship between the two has been broken for years. After the Union’s defeat in the 2002 general election, Merkel pushed Merz out of the office of parliamentary group leader. In 2009, Merz withdrew from politics for several years and worked in business. After Merkel’s departure and the CDU’s historic election defeat, the 66-year-old is now likely to celebrate his political comeback.
Chair Laschet does not find it unusual that Merkel does not want to be honored by her party in the long term. “It’s a tradition from the past that doesn’t exist at the federal level,” said Laschet on RTL. The last honorary chairman was Helmut Kohl, “who then resigned from the honorary chairmanship”. Kohl resigned his honorary chairmanship in early 2000 after the then party leadership around CDU leader Wolfgang Schäuble distanced themselves from him against the background of the CDU donation scandal. CDU General Secretary at the time: Angela Merkel.