CDU boss Armin Laschet promises a “personnel reorganization” of his party at the top, he indicates his readiness to withdraw, but wants to moderate this process as chairman for the time being. He would like “that we make a fresh start with new personalities” – and that should be done by consensus, said Laschet in the evening at a press conference that was scheduled at short notice. As an example, he cited North Rhine-Westphalia, where his successor in the office of CDU state chairman and prime minister had not been able to run for a fight in the past few days. “We want to try this example in the federal party as well.”
As before in a video link of the Union faction, he announced that there should be a party congress. Laschet did not mention the place and date. The top CDU committees should discuss this next week. The CDU chief said that the following should apply: first the country, then the party, then the people. A Jamaica coalition would be better for the country than a traffic light coalition. The CDU’s offer for this is “until the last second of the formation of a government”.
“The goal of doing something good for the country is more important than individual interests”
Laschet indicated the willingness to postpone its own ambitions for possible Jamaica negotiations with the Greens and the FDP. “If it goes better with other people, then gladly,” he said according to participants in the group. “The goal of doing something good for the country is more important than individual interests.” Laschet also publicly announced that a Jamaica coalition would not fail because of him, but that as CDU chairman he was still the first point of contact for the FDP and the Greens.
People around Laschet said that the party chairman’s statement was “definitely not a resignation”. When he appeared in the parliamentary group, the CDU chief wanted to refute the impression that he was sticking to his offices, “because he was not sticking to anything”.
How things are going in the party now will be discussed in the presidium and board, said Laschet in the faction meeting. In any case, he wanted to avoid a “personnel battle”. Instead, the party needs a joint consensus proposal; he wanted to moderate the way there as in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the CDU had decided by mutual agreement that Hendrik Wüst should succeed him as Prime Minister.
Laschet said that many people would still be waiting for a Jamaica coalition of the Union, the Greens and the FDP. He could not imagine how the SPD, Greens and FDP wanted to bring their issues together in a traffic light. Jamaica, on the other hand, would be a modernization project that could reconcile many things in the country. Until a new chancellor is elected, everything is open.
Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus (CDU) spoke out in the meeting like Laschet in favor of remaining ready to talk about a possible government with the Greens and the FDP. The Union is currently sitting on the “spectator bench”, but a coalition led by the Union remains possible, the door is not yet completely closed.