Test for CDU leader Merz: He is running for re-election at the federal party conference in Berlin. In his speech beforehand, he is likely to swear the Union in for the important election year of 2024.
Day of truth for Friedrich Merz: The CDU starts its federal party conference today with a speech by the party leader. The 1,001 delegates want to re-elect the party leadership at the three-day convention, discuss a new basic program and give the starting signal for the European election campaign.
At the party conference under the motto “Winning the future together”, the Christian Democrats want to present themselves as a counter-model to the traffic light coalition five weeks before the European elections. Immediately before the start of the three-day meeting, a suggestion by Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther that the CDU should orient itself more towards the policies of the former CDU chairman and Chancellor Angela Merkel caused a stir. Secretary General Carsten Linnemann is most likely to expect a controversial debate on the subject of compulsory military service and the social year.
Possibly in order to keep the potential for disputes low from the outset, Merz had already told journalists last night that there would be no internal dispute at the party conference: “We don’t argue and they won’t hear any argument from us or see any argument, they will see a very closed party CDU Germany.” He expects that there will be a great deal of unity in the party and also a signal of departure.
New election of the party leadership
The focus of the first day of the delegates’ meeting in Berlin today is the first re-election of the 68-year-old Sauerlander Merz, who is also chairman of the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag.
Its result is awaited with particular excitement. In 2022, he was elected as the successor to Angela Merkel, who led the party until 2018, at only the third attempt. First he failed against Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and later against Armin Laschet. The new federal executive board is elected every two years.
Merz is currently considered largely unchallenged in the Union. The party expects that the delegates will demonstrate unity before the elections in Europe and in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg in September and elect him with a strong result. Two years ago he received significantly more than 90 percent at a digital party conference and in the subsequent, legally required postal vote.
NRW Prime Minister and CDU state leader Hendrik Wüst assured Merz of the unified support of the delegates from North Rhine-Westphalia. “Friedrich Merz can rely on unified support from home if he is re-elected as party leader,” he said, according to participants on the sidelines of a meeting of NRW delegates. Merz managed to give the Union stability after losing the 2021 federal election. The NRW CDU represents almost a third – 305 – of the 1001 delegates.
direction of the CDU
Schleswig-Holstein’s head of government Günther initiated a small debate about the direction before the party conference began. “We cannot reach many of those who voted for the CDU under Merkel at the moment – but they are not unreachable,” the CDU man told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
There are many dissatisfied Green voters who would be willing to change. “Angela Merkel’s centrist course was her recipe for success.” The traffic lights have a terrible reputation among the population. “In such a situation, the Union should actually be in a better position than it is at the moment.” In nationwide surveys, the Union achieved around 29 to 32.5 percent. In the 2021 election it only achieved 24.1 percent.
Merz reacted calmly. In the ZDF program “Berlin Direkt” he said that the issue that Günther had raised was being addressed jointly by everyone in the Union. “We are fighting for majorities and we are trying to reach and exploit a potential voter who can fundamentally imagine voting for the CDU and, in Bavaria, the CSU.” We’ve made good progress there, but we’re not yet where we want to be.
After the deliberations of the Federal Executive Board and Presidium of the CDU, General Secretary Linnemann emphasized: “The fact that Daniel Günther says at one point or another that he could perhaps imagine a different course here and there is completely legitimate. That’s why we’re meeting now the federal party conference.”
Greens as possible coalition partners
Linnemann told “Bild am Sonntag” that in principle the CDU should be able to work with everyone, but: “With these Greens there would never have been a coalition agreement with the CDU. They are simply unsettling the entire country.” Merz, on the other hand, has not ruled out holding talks with the Greens about a coalition after the next federal election – unlike CSU leader Markus Söder.
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt once again warned in the “Augsburger Allgemeine” against flirting with the Greens. “The Greens are the main problem in the traffic light. The Greens disqualify themselves with ideological politics, polarize society and divide,” said the head of the CSU Bundestag member. “I can’t imagine the Greens as a partner in the federal government.”
In contrast, the North Rhine-Westphalian Social Minister Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU) referred to good experiences with the Greens in his state. “North Rhine-Westphalia is an example that it works,” he told the newspapers of the Bavaria media group. Laumann wants to be elected deputy CDU chairman at the party conference.
New basic program
Tomorrow the CDU wants to reposition itself with a new basic program after the loss of power in 2021. The current program dates back to 2007, during Merkel’s 16-year era.
In the almost 70-page draft program, the CDU advocates “cosmopolitan patriotism” and is committed to a German “leading culture”. This included fundamental and human rights, respect and tolerance, knowledge of the language and history as well as the recognition of Israel’s right to exist. Only those who commit to the dominant culture can become German.