CDU leader Merz has also received criticism from his party for his statements about asylum seekers. But there is support at the state party conference in Magdeburg – even if people continue to be a bit strange with him there.
Friedrich Merz would first like to thank you: It was not lost on him that the party friends in Saxony-Anhalt had flagged the conference hall in the new colors of the CDU, says the CDU federal chairman. At the state party conference in Magdeburg this Saturday, Merz is looking for and finding balm for the soul. He could use that after the past few days.
Last week, the CDU presented a new logo including a new color design. Internal enthusiasm was limited. Some state associations want to continue using the old logo for the time being – the next crack in the authority of the party leadership.
This week, Merz caused irritation with statements about rejected asylum seekers who used dental practices. The expected criticism from other parties was also joined by voices from the CDU. “Many members are ashamed of their party leader,” said the deputy head of the social wing, Christian Bäumler, to the dpa news agency.
“Correct in tone and substance”
However, these members are hardly to be found in Magdeburg. When criticism comes, do so cautiously – and only in terms of tone. “It wouldn’t have been my choice of words,” said a delegate in an interview. A member of the state parliament says: “We have to be careful not to become too polemical.” Many of her party friends, however, support Merz: “He needs to say things like this more often,” says one. “We have shown consideration for political competitors for too long,” another said. A third: “It was correct in tone and substance.”
In the run-up to the party conference, Merz had already received clear support for his words from members of the Bundestag and state parliament from Saxony-Anhalt. Perhaps this is also why the local party leadership is skeptical that the debate will be accurately reported. “I would be happy if we read what we experienced ourselves in the next few days,” warns state leader Sven Schulze to the journalists present.
Don’t start gasping straight away
For Merz, Magdeburg is a kind of home game. As Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff will later emphasize, the regional association voted for the man from the Sauerland in all three chairmanship elections. Merz has been coming regularly as a campaign helper for years.
This Saturday too, Merz is trying to gain his followers. “Saxony-Anhalt is one of, if not the, rising stars of last year,” he says. Haseloff kept the AfD at a distance in the state elections two years ago. Large settlements such as Intel in Magdeburg or Daimler in Halberstadt are thanks to Haseloff and CDU state leader and Economics Minister Sven Schulze. The cooperation between the two is “exemplary for the entire CDU”.
Merz defends his dentist statement without repeating it. He will continue to address things clearly. And: “The entire republic doesn’t have to go into gasps.”
Sober relationship
Merz classics follow. You have to “create wealth before you distribute it.” There is a need for immigration into the labor market instead of a loss of control in asylum policy. Merz said some things a week ago as a guest of the CSU: “We are the wrong-way drivers in the world when it comes to economic and climate policy.” When it comes to asylum policy, Merz is pushing for cooperation with Chancellor Scholz.
Merz also brought a promise with him: The CDU’s future policy program should contain proposals for building wealth among East Germans. To this day, people here earn less than people in the West. You only inherit a little more than half as much. According to the Bundesbank, the median wealth per household is only a third.
The anti-desert of Magdeburg
What Merz and the eastern regional associations have in common: Both refuse to give each other good advice in public, especially when it comes to dealing with the AfD. “We pick up the phone and call you, others use it to go on Twitter,” says Sven Schulze in the direction of Merz. The same applies the other way around.
Merz, in turn, thanks Reiner Haseloff. He “never gives advice to the public, but always behind closed doors.” This is a dig at Daniel Günther and Hendrik Wüst, the Prime Ministers of Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia.
Haseloff supports Merz
The magazine “Der Stern”, on the other hand, has just written about Haseloff that among the CDU heads of government he is the one “who causes the least problems for Merz”.
This is also evident at this party conference. Haseloff supports Merz in his speech. He himself said eight years ago that there was an “upper limit” to integration in Germany, depending on the capacity of the state and society. According to figures that Haseloff gave at the time, this limit is a good 400,000 people per year.
And as a former GDR citizen, he “cannot be forbidden from saying things that are necessary,” said Haseloff. He even goes so far as to give himself, Merz and the entire party a clean bill of health when it comes to asylum policy: The CDU is a middle-class party, says Haseloff. “When we say something, we say it for our country and our democracy” – and not as populism. Merz and Haseloff repeat that there will be no collaboration with the AfD. Speculation on this could be discontinued.
Applause for Merz – but that Prime Minister gets more
Merz repeatedly receives applause during his speech, but at the end the entire hall stands up. But the bigger and longer applause goes to the popular Haseloff – Merz also notices that.
The base’s relationship with him is more sober. They were patient when Merz did not deliver immediately after his election as party leader and the CDU hardly benefited from the traffic light’s low polls. Now he says audibly what many people think and want to hear – about gender, about asylum policy – but as a private jet owner he will probably never become one of them.