Christina Stumpp: This is the new Deputy General Secretary of the CDU – Politics

Christina Stumpp now has a name tag. When the CDU federal party conference began on Friday afternoon, Stumpp’s name was nowhere to be read in the hall. But it should be her day, that’s how party leader Friedrich Merz thought – and the delegates then elected Christina Stumpp as the first deputy general secretary in the history of the CDU. Immediately after the election, Stumpp’s name tag is draped onstage at the board table. Your place is now at the front.

Friedrich Merz was already in the trio with her and Mario Czaja in the race for the party chairmanship last winter, Czaja his general secretary, Stumpp his deputy. Merz himself presented himself as a model conservative, but it was clear to him that in order to take the entire party with him, he would also need bridge builders in the team – and a woman. This is also why he should have created the new post for Stumpp.

A heretical question, Ms. Stumpp: Can’t Czaja do the job alone? “After this disastrous result in the general election, it’s clear to all of us that we have to renew our party,” says Stumpp. “There are enough tasks now.” That means: Czaja is the main organizer, but should also usually be the foreign minister of the CDU. But certain issues fall within Stumpp’s new remit. She wants to improve the compatibility of family, career and political work, as a working mother she knows the problems herself. And she has set herself the goal of winning over more young people and women to the CDU.

“In the past I was more against a women’s quota”

The lack of women in the party in general and in its committees and parliamentary groups in particular are also major issues at this party conference in Hanover. After a hard debate, the party gives itself a quota and, also controversially, includes the demand for “equality” between men and women in its new charter of basic values. After the vote, Stumpp admitted: “In the past I was more against a women’s quota.” She had come a long way in the party even without such a regulation.

But the compromise that party leader Merz has campaigned for is a good one: gradual increase in the quota, and the whole thing is initially limited to the end of 2029. She also supported that now. Because: “As far as the goal is concerned, we all agree – we need more women in the CDU. Much more should have been done in recent years.” But the quota is not enough, as I said, it is also about compatibility.

Two other things that Stumpp wants to take care of now: Strengthen the municipal associations from the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus, after all they are the core of the party. And she wants to do something for the so-called rural areas. Two subjects that are particularly close to her heart. Stumpp comes from Backnang in Baden-Württemberg, her parents ran a farm. She is a trained administrator and has a bachelor’s degree in tax law. For a short time she was a clerk at the tax office in Waiblingen, before she worked in various state ministries from 2012, most recently as a personal assistant to the Baden-Württemberg Minister of Agriculture.

She joined the CDU in 2003 and sits on the city, district and regional boards. Last year, the young woman prevailed within the party against two male competitors for the Bundestag candidacy – and immediately won the direct mandate in Waiblingen. Now, at 34, she wants to help reshape her party. “In the federal elections, we didn’t manage to explain to the voters what we stand for,” says Stumpp. “We have to emphasize the brand essence of the CDU more.” So there really shouldn’t be a lack of tasks for the new Deputy Secretary General.

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