Ex-Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz is running for the third time in a row for the CDU chairmanship. The board of his CDU district association Hochsauerland nominated the 66-year-old unanimously on Monday evening in a digital meeting for the upcoming member survey on the future party chairman. In addition to Merz, the foreign politician Norbert Röttgen and the executive head of the Chancellery, Helge Braun, have announced their candidacy to succeed Armin Laschet. The new chairman is to be elected by the 1001 delegates at a party congress in Hanover on January 21, following a member survey planned for December.
Merz explained his candidacy at the meeting, according to a press release. He was quoted as saying: “I would like to thank the members of my district executive for the nomination and apply again for the office of chairman of the CDU in Germany.” He would also like to thank “the many members and voters of the Union who have encouraged me to run”. On this Tuesday afternoon he will “introduce my part of the new CDU leadership team that is applying with me in Berlin,” said Merz.
CDU district chief Matthias Kerkhoff said: “We support this application with full conviction and will support Friedrich Merz on his way. He can rely on his CDU in the Hochsauerlandkreis.”
The application deadline for further candidates to succeed the chairman Armin Laschet, who failed after less than a year, runs until 6 p.m. this Wednesday. Then proposals must be submitted in writing to the CDU federal office. In the CDU, preparations are in full swing for a round of introductions for candidates to succeed Laschet. According to information from the German Press Agency in Berlin, there should be at least one format in which all applicants introduce themselves to the members and which is also broadcast on the Internet or on television, for example. (15.11.2021)
Red-red coalition agreement signed in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
The red-red state government in Schwerin can start. After the two party congresses in Wismar and Güstrow, at which the delegates almost unanimously approved the coalition agreement, the coalition agreement was signed in Schwerin. Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig and the parliamentary group leader Thomas Krüger for the SPD as well as the parliamentary group chairman Simone Oldenburg and co-party leader Wenke Brüdgam for the Left signed the 77-page work on Saturday afternoon.
“We are looking forward to the fact that we can get started with the start of 2030,” said Schwesig. Oldenburg once again highlighted the great similarities between the two parties. This is “a common departure for our Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania”. At the beginning of next week Schwesig is to be re-elected as Prime Minister in the state parliament and then her cabinet will be sworn in.
In her 45-minute speech in Wismar, Schwesig had asked for approval for the contract. She emphasized the triad of a strong economy with good wages, social justice and ecological responsibility, which should be the focus of the new five-year legislative period. Schwesig said she was aware of her great responsibility and accepted the election result with humility. No other party has such future competence as the SPD, she stressed. One of the priorities in the coming years should be the participation of young people. “The future begins now,” said the Prime Minister. The voting age will be lowered to 16 years.
There are also plans to introduce an additional public holiday on March 8, International Women’s Day. Both parties are planning improvements in daycare centers, after-school care centers and schools. They want to make agriculture more environmentally friendly – the organically farmed agricultural area is to grow by a third by 2026.
“The left is capable of governing, and the left is also willing to govern,” said the parliamentary group leader of the left in the Bundestag, Dietmar Bartsch, in Güstrow. “It’s an opportunity for us.”
In the red-red government, Oldenburg is to become Minister of Education and Vice-Prime Minister. Your party friend Jacqueline Bernhardt is supposed to take over the Ministry of Justice. The delegates in Güstrow voted unanimously for the appointment of both ministers. For the first time in the history of the state, women will be in the majority at the Schwerin cabinet table. In addition to Schwesig, the SPD and the Left have agreed on four ministers.
The SPD had clearly won the state election on September 26th with 39.6 percent. The left got 9.9 percent. The red-red alliance has 43 seats in the 79-member state parliament. The SPD has 34 MPs, the Left 9.
There was already a red-red state government in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania from 1998 to 2006. Then the then Prime Minister Harald Ringstorff (SPD) switched to the CDU as a small government partner, because he found the red-red majority of one vote in the state parliament too shaky . (13.11.2021)
Traffic light discusses compulsory vaccination for certain occupational groups
The parties to a possible future traffic light coalition, the SPD, the Greens and the FDP, are discussing a possible corona vaccination requirement for certain professional groups. So far, however, opinions have differed. Probably one will have to introduce a job group-specific vaccination requirement in the coming weeks, said the Green health politician Janosch Dahmen on Friday in Berlin. Anyone who is responsible for other people does not only have to make a decision about their own health in this important phase of the pandemic. He named nurses, doctors, cleaning and kitchen staff in clinics and care facilities.
“This is a topic or a discussion that we cannot avoid. We will also lead it very openly in my parliamentary group,” said the health policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, Sabine Dittmar. You have to weigh up very carefully, she added, referring to the dangers of a possible brain drain. The FDP said that they would “naturally” face the discussion. “But it is also important for us whether we can achieve this with milder means,” said the health politician of the group, Christine Aschenberg-Dugnus, who also referred to the risk of a possible migration of nurses in the event of compulsory vaccination. (11/12/2021)
Traffic light parties want to get more East Germans into leadership positions
The parties to a possible future traffic light coalition, the SPD, the Greens and the FDP, want to ensure that top executives from eastern Germany are more often represented in management positions in the future. This emerges from the final paper of the working group “Equal Living Conditions”, which the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) has received according to a preliminary report. “We are improving the representation of East Germans in management positions and decision-making bodies in all areas. For the federal level, we will present a concept for implementation by the end of 2022,” says the report.
The paper also emphasizes that new federal and research institutions that need to be expanded should preferably be located in the eastern German federal states and structurally weak regions. According to studies, East Germans are underrepresented in management positions nationwide.
The 22 working groups set up for the coalition negotiations between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP should submit their result papers to the party leaderships by Wednesday evening. (11/12/2021)
The coalition negotiations will continue on Monday
The coalition negotiations between the SPD, Greens and FDP will enter the next round on Monday. Then the 21-strong negotiating group of the three parties will meet again and talk about the results of the thematic working groups. As the SPD and FDP announced on Thursday, the general secretaries are still on the train. Lars Klingbeil (SPD), Michael Kellner (Political Director, Greens) and Volker Wissing (FDP) are in an exchange to bring together the 22 working papers.
Little is known about the results of the working groups, which were submitted on Wednesday evening. Several groups could not agree on all points and passed a number of important open questions to the main negotiators. There has been progress in areas such as climate, finance, transport and foreign and defense policy, but the papers of the working groups have brackets – that means that there is still no agreement on the points, as the dpa reported on Wednesday evening.
The party leaderships had given the working groups very detailed guidelines on how to deliver their results: the small groups up to three pages, the large ones up to five, font size 11, Calibri, line spacing 1.5. The individual results should be brought together in the coming days before work on the still open points begins.
At the beginning of the coalition negotiations it was said that the main round of negotiations should conclude the deliberations by the end of November. The previous Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is to be elected Federal Chancellor in St. Nicholas Week from December 6th. He expressed his satisfaction with the status of the coalition negotiations: “My confidence is actually there all the time, and it’s getting better and better,” says Scholz, referring to the schedule. “The three parties are pretty good together.” The feedback from the working groups showed that “many things have come together”. The remaining differences are not so numerous that he considers them insurmountable. (11/11/2021)
Greens deny report on alleged waiver of Treasury Department
Contrary to the presentation of a report published on Wednesday evening, the Greens do not want to leave the Ministry of Finance to the FDP in a possible traffic light government. “That is wrong. There is no renunciation of any ministry and no definition of who will do what,” said a spokesman for the party Süddeutsche Zeitung on demand.
Previously, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Reported contrary. Accordingly, the Greens should no longer insist on the important ministry. “The Ministry of Finance will not let the formation of the traffic light fail,” reports the FAZ, referring to green negotiating circles. According to the report, the responsible negotiators of the Greens have defined six ministries to which the party claims. This should include the Federal Foreign Office and the transport, agriculture, environment, family and transformation departments.
The Greens had always described the Ministry of Finance as a key ministry to also take control of the finances to advance the fight against global warming. It is believed that they are now allowing themselves to be sweetened the renunciation of the finance ministry with concessions from the SPD and above all the FDP on the subject of climate protection. (11/10/2021)
Klingbeil wants to keep his back free for a Chancellor, Olaf Scholz
The designated SPD leader Lars Klingbeil wants to keep his back free for a chancellor, Olaf Scholz. “One of the mistakes after the 1998 election victory was that a party chairman, Oskar Lafontaine, concentrated on making life difficult for a Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder. We will not repeat this mistake,” said Klingbeil Rheinische Post. In the past, as Secretary General, he had not always agreed with the candidate for Chancellor Scholz. However, this has always been clarified internally. “The times in which conflicts were carried out in public are over. I will do everything I can to ensure that it stays that way.”
Klingbeil left it open who the designated co-boss Saskia Esken and he would like to be General Secretary in the future. When asked whether he would ask the ex-Juso boss Kevin Kühnert to take over the job, Klingbeil replied evasively: “We are on friendly terms. We sometimes have a different opinion on this matter – but we both want the same political style shape the party. ” (11/10/2021)