Since a kind of Vor-Merz euphoria already seems to break out in parts of the CDU, Secretary General Paul Ziemiak has once again expressly emphasized: “The elected board is in office, as is the party chairman.” And this chairman is still called Armin Laschet, even if that may have disappeared a bit in the past few days. When the member survey was counted on Friday in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus in Berlin, Laschet was neither present nor a topic of conversation.
Everything revolved around the triumphant Friedrich Merz. In the clear vote with which the party base decided Merz to be Laschet’s successor, there is also a clear expectation: that things will now quickly improve again with the long-suffering CDU. But the members still have to be patient.
Merz is currently not even a member of the party’s executive bodies. For this reason, he only formally attended the digital meeting of the CDU presidium on Monday as a guest. According to Ziemiak, Merz reaffirmed in this round that the member survey was not a final decision and that respect for the delegates at the party congress in January made it necessary to wait for this vote as well. Merz is said to have said that the new federal executive board could only start work then.
It is certain that the delegates will follow the members and elect Merz as the new CDU leader on January 21. Because the party congress takes place digitally, this election must also be confirmed by a final written vote, which should be available on January 31. Only then, said Ziemiak on Monday, will there be a new party leadership. The official start of work for party leader Merz would therefore be on February 1.
When does Merz tackle the question of group leadership?
The question, however, is whether the CDU can afford such an interregnum in which Laschet is still not really gone and Merz is still not really there. Especially since the debate about another strategic personnel decision already protrudes into this transitional phase: Should Merz, in order to fill the role of opposition leader, also reach out after the chairmanship of the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag? Group leader Ralph Brinkhaus is elected until April and make no move to voluntarily vacate his place. Merz himself has stated several times that he is not dealing with the question at the moment.
In theory, however, this moment could end at any moment. In the parliamentary group, it is assumed that Merz has not yet decided in one direction or the other. Merz looks at it first for six to eight weeks and then makes a decision, is suspected in his environment. The prerequisite for a further separation of party and parliamentary group chairmanship, however, is that no sheet of paper should really fit between the two bosses. But there is definitely potential for disruption between Merz and Brinkhaus, says someone who knows both well.
Mike Mohring, CDU presidium member from Thuringia, said the Süddeutsche Zeitung: “I think that Friedrich Merz should also be chairman of the parliamentary group, but the decision is not yet to be made.” At the weekend, the Thuringian vice-chairman Mario Voigt had already spoken out in favor of Merz as parliamentary group leader. On the other hand, the Saxon member of the Bundestag Marco Wanderwitz warns against biting into the question of opposition leadership in Berlin. The upcoming elections in Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia are much more important. The CDU Prime Ministers there, Tobias Hans, Daniel Günther and Hendrik Wüst, are well-known figures. “We would do well to push them to the fore now,” said Wanderwitz of the SZ.