parties
Amthor is to become CDU general secretary in MV
In the future with a new area of responsibility: Philipp Amthor. photo
© Hendrik Schmidt/dpa
Philipp Amthor is known for his quick wit. It doesn’t leave him even when he has a faint attack when he is introduced as the future general secretary of the CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
He gave the possible reason for the break that he hadn’t eaten anything that day, and then added in his usual humorous manner that a relaxing Easter holiday was obviously not good for a workaholic like him. The 31-year-old later also reported on Instagram with a hello from the pizzeria in Schwerin where the short-term press conference had taken place: “What can I say, it was so stunning that the whole of Germany is worried about the large media coverage,” Philipp Amthor suffers a faint attack. “I can tell you, after a minute I answered the questions quickly again,” he explained and assured that he was fit.
Restart with a surprise
With the naming of Amthor as the future general secretary, the CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which has been plagued by personnel disputes for years, has a surprise in store for the planned restart. Contrary to previous announcements, the member of the Bundestag and former member of the CDU state executive committee is now to take on a more important role in the CDU of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The previous incumbent and designated state party leader Daniel Peters announced that he would propose Amthor for the office of General Secretary.
Since he himself is running for state chairmanship at the state party conference on April 13th in Rostock, the office he has previously held will become vacant. “I really, really wanted Philipp Amthor as Secretary General and asked him whether he would take on this responsible task in our regional association. And I can say with great pride that he agreed. I believe that we have absolutely the right person for this important task,” Peters said with conviction. Amthor is known for his pointed choice of words in political debates and can therefore also motivate.
After the surprising announcement of the resignation of the previous state party leader Franz-Robert Liskow at the beginning of this year, Amthor was again considered a possible candidate for the top office. But the politician from Ueckermünde rejected this on the grounds that he currently sees his political place in federal politics. When the Northeast CDU was also looking for a new party leader a year before the 2021 state elections due to the resignation of its then-hopeful Vincent Kokert, Amthor was already considered a promising candidate for the top office. But influential party leaders slowed him down because the memory of the young politician’s controversial lobbying work for a New York startup still seemed too fresh to them. Amthor said in Schwerin that he had learned from his mistakes back then.
Amthor relies on team effort
In his own words, Amthor sees no problems in combining his mandate in Berlin with his future tasks as general secretary of the state party. With the new office, he will take on important organizational tasks and wants to use his good connections in federal politics for the CDU in the country. “You won’t see me preparing the table for seniors’ coffee, but organizational preparation means linking up with the federal and state parties and also ensuring that we have a proper perception here,” said Amthor. It is important to do everything in a team effort “so that the CDU in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania can start the upcoming elections with maximum strength again.”
This could work best with Daniel Peters at the helm. “Because I am firmly convinced that his political style is also the right one. The times of harmonizing paths and ignoring problems are over,” said Amthor. As CDU general secretary and as a member of the state parliament, Peters had repeatedly directed violent verbal attacks against the red-red coalition led by Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD). Even as state party leader, he doesn’t want to change anything. “There are an incredible number of reasons to continue to carry out attacks,” said Peters, referring to the actions of the state government made up of the SPD and the Left.
There is currently no opposing candidate to Peters as the new state party leader. The 42-year-old from Rostock had emphasized that he wanted to lead the party in the long term and thus end the ongoing leadership crisis. According to his own statements, he is also available as the top candidate for the 2026 state elections. Peters would be the fourth CDU state leader in just over four years.
In the 2021 state election, the state party, which has almost 4,500 members, achieved its worst result to date with 13.3 percent. This makes it only the third strongest force in parliament, behind the SPD and AfD. In the upcoming local elections in June, the CDU wants to present itself better again and defend its position as the strongest local political force in the country.
Reaction of the SPD
According to the SPD, which governed MV from 2006 to 2021 with the CDU as a junior partner, the mutual relationship will not change with the future leadership of the Union. By nominating Amthor as general secretary of the CDU MV, Daniel Peters made it clear that he would continue to rely on riots and smear campaigns, but that he no longer wanted to get his hands so dirty, said Julian Barlen, general secretary of the Northeast SPD. He also accused the CDU of not having dealt with “the Amthor affair surrounding his federal political influence for Augustus Intelligence” to date. “Nevertheless, venality is obviously not an exclusion criterion for the CDU leadership in MV,” said Barlen.
However, in August 2020, the Bundestag did not find any legal violations in Amthor’s engagement with the New York start-up, which had already ended at the time. The Berlin public prosecutor’s office also saw no initial suspicion of corruption or bribery. Amthor only used his contact with the Federal Ministry of Economics with the aim of supporting the company, it was said.