parties
Prime Minister Günther: “Angela Merkel is missing from politics”
Angela Merkel 2012 with Jürgen Trittin (l). photo
© Sören Stache/dpa
The Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) has called on his party to orient itself more closely towards the policies of the former Chancellor Angela Merkel. “We cannot reach many of those who voted for the CDU under Merkel at the moment – but they are not unreachable,” Günther told the newspapers of the Funke media group shortly before the CDU federal party conference in Berlin that began on Monday.
“For example, there are many dissatisfied Green Party voters who would definitely be willing to change. We should retain all the voters we appealed to under Angela Merkel. Angela Merkel’s centrist course was her recipe for success,” explained Günther.
Merkel is missing from politics as a whole. He always admired the way she solved problems. “As a natural scientist, she always approaches things in a very structured way, she knows how to plan solution steps. Looking at the current federal government, we could use more of that,” he continued.
The Union currently stands at around 29 to 32.5 percent in nationwide surveys. Günther said: “The traffic light has a terrible reputation among the population. In such a situation, the Union should actually be in a better position than it is at the moment.” In addition to criticism of the traffic lights, people expected concrete ideas about what the Union would do differently. The new basic program serves this purpose. “If we then manage to communicate our issues again, we can achieve 40 percent again in the federal election.”
The entire party leadership will also be re-elected at the CDU convention. The result from party leader Merz is awaited with particular excitement. In 2022, he was elected as the successor to Merkel, who led the party until 2018, at only the third attempt. Since then, the CDU has taken a somewhat more conservative course again.