The failed Union Chancellor candidate and outgoing CDU chairman Armin Laschet gave an insight into his tense relationship with CSU boss Markus Söder. “He said for a long time ‘The CDU has the first right to propose’. That’s why I was initially surprised that he even ran because he had said the opposite for a year,” Laschet said on Wednesday in the ARD program “Maischberger. The Week “https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/.” As recently as August 2020, it was not even an issue that there could be a conflict between the CDU and CSU. And I believed that for a long time. “
After a ten-day power struggle for the candidacy for chancellor in April, in which Laschet had prevailed against Söder, there were repeated taunts and cross shots by the Bavarian Prime Minister against the CDU chief. Laschet now made it clear that he had called Söder again and again and said: “Markus, leave it. Markus, why are you saying that again now?” Söder replied: “No, that’s wrongly quoted. That’s not how I said it at all.” Laschet criticized Söder’s attempts to explain: “It was always different.”
When asked what that said about his relationship with Söder, Laschet replied: “It was very good for a long time and I really believed him a lot. But many others now also say that such sentences are not helpful in the election campaign.” Laschet accepted a mandate from the Bundestag after the election and is now a simple member of parliament in Berlin. (04/11/2021)
Klingbeil does not rule out applications for party leadership
After the announcement of the withdrawal by SPD leader Norbert Walter-Borjans, the SPD wants to quickly decide on the new party leadership. Secretary General Lars Klingbeil has shown himself to be open to becoming the SPD leader, but without specifically announcing an application. “I am very honored that my name is mentioned for the role of the SPD chairman,” he told the editorial network in Germany. “The chairmanship is a very important, traditional and attractive office in which you can achieve a lot,” said Klingbeil when asked whether it would be more attractive for him to become party leader or to take on a ministerial office.
Walter-Borjans had said: “We will clarify the succession calmly and in close coordination with one another, just as we worked together for two years.” A proposal should be made quickly. Walter-Borjans, who has led the SPD with Saskia Esken since 2019, announced his withdrawal on Friday.
According to Walter-Borjans, it is still unclear whether Esken will remain at the top of the SPD. The personnel proposal is also dependent on how it looks in the overall complex between the formation of the government and the party leadership. Walter-Borjans spoke of the possibilities of a complete change or a “continuation of half a continuity” – that is, with a new candidate alongside Esken. Esken is considered a candidate for a ministerial office. SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich had asked Esken to renounce the chair in the case of a ministerial office. Klingbeil is also under discussion as a possible minister. (03/11/2021)
CDU wants to elect a new chairman at the end of January
The CDU federal executive board has unanimously decided that the next CDU boss should be elected by member decision – a procedure that is completely new for the party. In addition, the next federal party conference was scheduled for January 21st and 22nd. There the formal election takes place, in which the delegates are to determine the Laschet successor.
A successor to Laschet is also conceivable. However, so far there has not been a woman who has publicly declared her interest in the party leadership. The CDU wants to compensate for this with a “team solution”: For example, a woman could become general secretary. So far, five men from North Rhine-Westphalia have expressed their interest in the chairmanship – more or less clearly -: the former Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz, the foreign politician Norbert Röttgen, the managing health minister Jens Spahn, the economic politician Carsten Linnemann and the Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus. In the opinion of many party experts, the member survey increases Friedrich Merz’s chances. It enjoys great approval on the grassroots level.
It is planned that only one person will stand at the party congress in January and that the actual electoral process will have long been completed beforehand. Preventing a fight vote was the most important goal of the still party leader Laschet.
The new CDU boss will be elected in three phases, as CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak explained in the afternoon at a joint press conference with Laschet. The nomination phase begins on November 6th, and the individual branches of the party can propose candidates. This means that an applicant cannot propose himself, he or she needs the support of a country or a district association or one of the party groups, such as the women’s union.
The introductory phase begins on November 18th. The proposed candidates should present themselves to the members in various online formats. From December 4th to 16th, voting will take place, either via online voting or postal voting. The result will be announced on December 17th. If none of the candidates get an absolute majority, there will be a runoff election until January 14th. However, there are no regional conferences to introduce the candidates.
Laschet’s statement at the press conference is remarkable because he initially talks a long time about the Corona crisis and the climate conference in Glasgow – he mentions the reorganization of the CDU only in third place. Nobody should say that the still ruling CDU party is no longer doing day-to-day politics. The conferences of the CDU district chairmen last weekend were “very successful,” said Laschet. In the phase in which the CDU is currently, it is the right way to involve the party base in the decision on the chairmanship. One will not change the statutes of the party, but “once” choose the form of the member’s decision to determine the party chairmanship.
Laschet was only elected chairman last January. After the historically poor result of 24.1 percent in the federal election, he is giving up the chair. The party wants to be able to act again quickly, because state elections are due in Saarland on March 27th. On May 8th, a new parliament will be elected in Schleswig-Holstein and on May 15th in North Rhine-Westphalia. The CDU provides the prime minister in all three federal states. Defeats there, as just now in the federal government, would massively increase the party’s problems. (11/02/2021)
SPD parliamentary group leader plans with new party leadership
After the announced withdrawal of Norbert Walter-Borjans from the party leadership, the SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich asked the co-chairwoman Saskia Esken to renounce the chairmanship if she wants to become a minister. “I think concentrating on one position is challenging enough,” he said in the “Interview of the Week” on Deutschlandfunk. “That’s how Saskia Esken started two years ago, ultimately insisting on this independence. And I believe that she is smart enough to know that what was successful two years ago will continue to be the case in the future need to map. “
He expects Esken to explain himself accordingly. “It would be good if the party knew what it was about,” said Mützenich. Esken is one of the SPD representatives in the coalition negotiations with the Greens and FDP and is considered a candidate for a ministerial office. However, Esken had announced in the summer that he wanted to run again for the federal chairmanship of her party.
The SPD dual leadership has proven itself in the eyes of the parliamentary group leader. “I assume that it will continue to be a double leadership,” he said. When asked about Secretary General Lars Klingbeil and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig as potential candidates for party leadership, he kept a low profile. “I don’t want to anticipate a personal decision by two outstanding candidates.” There is also time for that. Schwesig leaves a candidacy open. The SPD now has the first order to form a federal government.
Walter-Borjans had it Rheinische Post saidthat he will not run again for the chairmanship at the party congress from December 10th to 12th. In 2019, he and Esken emerged from the SPD members as the winner of an elaborate choice of candidates. The executive finance minister and SPD candidate for chancellor Olaf Scholz has made it clear that he does not claim the party chairmanship. Mützenich also warned against making the possible re-election of Frank-Walter Steinmeier as Federal President the subject of staff talks as part of the formation of the government. (31.10.2021)