“Signal of departure” – Friedrich Merz elected new chairman of the CDU
Friedrich Merz elected new CDU chairman
Friedrich Merz succeeds Armin Laschet. The CDU has elected the economic politician as its new chairman. At a digital federal party conference, 94 percent of the delegates voted for Friedrich Merz.
With almost 95 percent, the CDU elected Friedrich Merz as the new party leader. The 66-year-old had previously sharply attacked Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in a speech and accused him of being passive on important issues. Mario Czaja becomes the new CDU general secretary.
friedrich Merz is the new chairman of the CDU. At the virtual federal party conference on Saturday, the 66-year-old was elected the new party leader of the largest opposition party in the Bundestag with 94.6 percent of the valid votes cast. 915 of 983 delegates voted for the economist, 16 abstained. Mario Czaja was elected the new CDU General Secretary with almost 93 percent, succeeding Paul Ziemiak.
The decisions still have to be formally confirmed by postal vote. After Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Armin Laschet, the Union has Merz, its third chairman, in just over three years.
“I am deeply moved and impressed by this election result,” he said, who had already tried twice to become party leader. He spoke of a “great mandate” to tackle the new task.
Newly elected: the CDU chairman Friedrich Merz (r) and Secretary General Mario Czaja
Source: REUTERS
His choice was considered safe. In December, Merz clearly won the first member survey in the history of the CDU to determine the new chairman. He received 62.1 percent of the votes. The foreign politician Norbert Röttgen came to 25.8 percent, the former Chancellor Helge Braun to 12.1 percent. However, the member survey is not legally binding – only the decision of the party congress counts.
The economic expert succeeds Armin Laschet as chairman, who has only held the position for a year. He was the Union’s candidate for chancellor federal election and after the poor performance of the CDU and CSU announced his withdrawal from the party leadership.
CDU must “quickly take hold”
Before the election, in a speech he had called on his party to unite and a powerful awakening in the opposition after the disaster in the federal election. The party conference sent a “powerful signal of departure and renewal of the CDU,” said Merz at the online party conference of the CDU.
“We haven’t lost our self-confidence.” Precisely because of the new traffic light government, Germany has a right to a union “that continues to serve the country, provides answers to the pressing questions of our time” and which, as the opposition, initially has a claim on itself imagine being the government of tomorrow again.
Friedrich Merz (l) and his predecessor Armin Laschet
Source: AFP/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE
“Let’s not fool ourselves: it can be a long way until then,” Merz warned the Union at the same time. “How long the road will really be is not solely up to us, but also up to us,” he added.
“If we argue, if we diverge in all directions, if we give an unclear picture, if we are not up to date on the issues, then it may take a very long time. And even then it is not said that it will succeed at all. ”Now the CDU must quickly take hold.
Control government, challenge chancellor
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) accused the newly elected CDU chairman of inaction. Neither in the debate about general vaccination requirements, nor in the face of high inflation, nor in the Ukraine conflict did Scholz show the leadership he had promised, Merz said at the digital party conference. The most important task of the CDU as the opposition in the federal government will therefore be “to control this government, to challenge this Chancellor”.
Merz also criticized the government course in the planned conversion to more climate protection, in which industrial jobs would have to be preserved. However, the traffic light coalition showed “faith in the state” and a “spending spree”. Answers to major questions such as securing pensions for today’s younger generation are also needed.
Merz pointed to an increasing radicalization of a part of German society. “We are particularly concerned about the massive radicalization on the far right.” The CDU is “on the side of well-fortified democracy” and “against any form of political radicalism – whether from the right or from the left”.
Because of the corona pandemic, the actually planned face-to-face party conference in Hanover had to be cancelled. Instead, only a core team is now present in Berlin’s Konrad-Adenauer-Haus; the 1001 delegates are connected digitally. The elections to the party leadership must therefore be confirmed by postal vote afterwards. In addition, the party congress was shortened from two days to one day and no substantive motions will be debated.