The rift between the Union parties is deepening, two ministers stop and the young people demand “to get out of the old way of thinking”: The CDU leader, who now wants to initiate a reorganization, is increasingly getting into turmoil.
The pressure is growing on CDU boss Armin Laschet to quickly set the course for a new start in his party. This reduces his chances of leading the Union into a Jamaica coalition with the Greens and the FDP if the traffic light negotiations fail. Before a meeting of the CDU Presidium, at which Laschet wants to submit a proposal for further action this Monday, two long-time companions of Chancellor Angela Merkel announced their withdrawal and thus fueled the follow-up debate. Economy Minister Peter Altmaier and Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer declared that they did not want to accept their mandates in the new Bundestag in order to make room for younger MPs. “After such a defeat, there must be consequences and renewal for the CDU,” said Altmaier.
In addition, the conflict between the CDU and CSU intensified. The CDU politician Friedrich Merz spoke in a letter to his supporters of a “low point in our cooperation and our dealings with one another”. He was alluding to the lack of support from CSU boss Markus Söder for the Union chancellor candidate Laschet. Not everyone has to be “completely convinced of every decision at all times,” admitted Merz. However, the behavior of the CSU in the election campaign is inappropriate for a “bourgeois” party. “That was stylistically, disrespectful and sometimes rowdy,” criticized Merz.
First and foremost, however, Laschet now has to pacify the situation in his own party. In this context, the messages with which the Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU) linked his praise for the retreat of Altmaier and Kramp-Karrenbauer, who both also come from Saarland, were noticeable. People wanted to see “a bit of attitude now,” said Hans. It is “insane to cling to a straw”. Laschet had emphasized that he wanted to keep the door to a Jamaica coalition open. Kramp-Karrenbauer and Altmaier received encouragement from large parts of the Union. The decision deserves “the greatest respect”, praised CDU presidium member Norbert Röttgen.
Meanwhile, resistance also formed against Laschet’s attempt to control the repositioning of his party. “To a large extent, the CDU has fallen asleep and demoralized. That is why it is now time for a wake-up call,” said an article by the chairman of the Junge Union, Tilman Kuban, and other young CDU politicians for the World on sunday. The CDU must “get out of the old way of thinking and out of well-established structures”. It is “not the task of those who are responsible for the current situation to choose a new chairman”. Instead, “it must be much more of a task for the party base in the future to realign our CDU in terms of content and personnel and to shape its course”.
Christian von Stetten, a member of the CDU, a supporter of Söder’s candidacy for chancellor, also questioned Laschet’s authority. “The CDU presidium can enforce a candidate for chancellor against all polls, against the sister party, against the parliamentary group and against the party base,” he said Picture on sunday. But then he would also have to win elections and be able to form a government. Otherwise, “not only the candidate for chancellor, but the entire party presidium will have an acceptance problem and will have to make their offices available”.
However, Markus Söder can no longer act completely unchallenged in the CSU. At a state assembly in Deggendorf, the Junge Union deleted the phrase that “a powerful, fresh team behind our strong workhorse Markus Söder” had to be formed. In the declaration on the processing of the electoral defeat, there is now only talk of a “fresh team”. Teamwork and not a one-man show is necessary, it said.
Meanwhile, the Union’s polls continue to plummet. According to an Insa survey, the CDU and CSU together have only 20 percent approval, one percentage point less than in the previous week. The SPD is still at 28 percent.