Personnel realignment
Röttgen warns CDU against shifting to the right
Norbert Röttgen, CDU presidium member, comes to the special meetings of the presidium and federal executive committee of his party. Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
CDU politician Röttgen emphasizes that his party is a «party of the middle». In the course of the planned personnel realignment, he warns of a legal drift.
CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen has warned his party against a shift to the right in view of the imminent change in personnel.
There are different directions in the party, such as more conservative and liberal, he said in the ZDF “heute journal”. “But the CDU itself must not become a party in the direction. We are not. We are the party of the center. ” The center must be the modern center. «Only there can we win. We as the CDU are ideal, because the social struggle for the majority takes place. ” If the CDU were to experience a shift to the right, it would leave the other parties – the SPD, Greens and FDP – free space to establish themselves.
In the CDU, it is assumed that Röttgen and the former parliamentary group leader and economic expert Friedrich Merz have great ambitions to succeed Armin Laschet. Both were defeated in a fight vote against Laschet in January. Health Minister Jens Spahn and Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus are also traded as other possible candidates.
Röttgen said the CDU needed a team and team spirit. «It cannot be the work of a Savior for whom everyone is waiting. It can only succeed as a joint effort, and I would like to be part of this joint effort. “
Personnel realignment in January
When asked whether he sees himself as a “team leader”, i.e. party leader, Röttgen said: “It has been agreed that there is now a fixed schedule – and also that there are proposals, nominations or declarations of candidacy . It will run for ten days from next Saturday. “
The CDU wants to complete its personnel realignment after the debacle in the federal election in January. The federal executive unanimously decided on Tuesday that this should be done at a party congress on 21/22 January should happen in Hanover. Before that, there was a member survey about Laschet’s successor as party leader.