Neither party can react faster. The CDU only needed a few hours to initiate exclusion proceedings against Max Otte. And the statement by General Secretary Paul Ziemiak couldn’t be surpassed in terms of clarity: Someone who, like Otte, has put himself forward as a candidate by the AfD has “no place in the CDU”.
Unfortunately, the refreshing clarity of the party leadership in dealing with Otte’s candidacy for the office of Federal President is not typical of the CDU. For too long, the party has been far too lax with members on the far right.
Yes, it is true that there are high hurdles to expelling members. Rightly so, by the way. And it’s true that a party leadership has to be very careful not to unnecessarily create a stage for an unpopular member through such a procedure – and thus give him even more attention. However, a party leadership should always consider the consequences it has for them in public perception if they refrain from an exclusion procedure – as in the case of Hans-Georg Maassen.
Markus Söder said during the election campaign that he hopes that Armin Laschet’s team “does not only consist of Merz and Maassen”. The sentence was unfair to Friedrich Merz. You can accuse the new CDU boss of a lot – to mention him in the same breath as Maaßen is an impertinence that Merz still gets upset about today. Söder’s sentence also proves that Maaßen cannot be dismissed as a simple – and therefore allegedly irrelevant – member, as the CDU leadership has long done. As long as a party does not distance itself harshly from such a member, it will also be held liable for his activities.
So far, the party leadership has been too weak to show any toughness. That has changed with Merz
Nevertheless, Laschet had not publicly condemned Maassen’s nomination as a candidate for the Bundestag during the election campaign. Wolfgang Schäuble, then still President of the Bundestag, even defended the list and said: “Mr. Maassen is undeniably a democrat.” Christian Democrats like Karin Prien or Serap Güler, who called for a hard demarcation from Maassen, remained in the minority for a long time. Only two weeks ago, the CDU national board distanced itself from Maaßen with the necessary sharpness. A party exclusion procedure does not exist to this day.
In dealing with the Union of Values and its chairman Max Otte, the CDU leadership was far too lenient for far too long. As General Secretary, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer even welcomed Alexander Mitsch, who was then head of the Union of Values, to the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus. As party leader, she also invited members of the Union of Values to a discussion about refugee policy at party headquarters. And in Saxony even the Christian Democratic President of the State Parliament campaigned with Maassen and the Union of Values.
Two years ago, the workers’ wing of the CDU called for a decision on the incompatibility of the CDU with the union of values. But neither Kramp-Karrenbauer nor her successor Laschet picked that up. You can see from both of them that they personally never had anything to do with Maaßen, Otte or the Union of Values. But both didn’t feel strong enough to draw clear boundaries. Kramp-Karrenbauer and Laschet had only come to the top of the party in runoff elections.
Friedrich Merz was elected CDU chairman last weekend with almost 95 percent. He has the political power to assert himself. At least in the case of Otte he has now done so.