Three weeks after the historic election defeat of the Union, Armin Laschet gives the best speech of his long-ended election campaign. In front of the youth organization of the CDU and CSU, of all places, which always rejected him as a candidate for chancellor and had spoken out in favor of CSU boss Markus Söder. Now that it no longer matters, the still-CDU boss and still-NRW prime minister is in top form. His speech is a fiery plea for cohesion, for a reinvention of the Union – and at the same time an emotional farewell speech.
When the 60-year-old enters the hall on Saturday morning, the party song is booming black Eyed Peas over the speakers, the chorus goes like this: “I got a feeling. That tonight’s gonna be a good night.” It’s still a long way from evening, but the rest is true. At least for Laschet.
A praise that was also a tip in the direction of Söder
After a relentless written election analysis by the JU federal executive committee, a personal settlement with Laschet was expected. But it turned out differently. Many of the 317 delegates and a thousand guests paid him respect for his performance; the discussion that followed was open and constructive. Young Union boss Tilman Kuban found that Laschet was “facing” the JU, proving “character”. Loud applause followed this praise, which was also a point in the direction of Söder, who had canceled at short notice for the JU’s “Germany Day”. The three-day meeting in Münster was the first major face-to-face event by a party organization after the historic election defeat, which is why the event received an extraordinary amount of attention – and it became a must for the five men who are said to have ambitions to succeed Laschet.
The Union had achieved a “bitter result”, said Laschet in his speech. “Nothing can be glossed over. As chairman and candidate for chancellor, I am responsible for this result. I am responsible for the election campaign and the campaign, and nobody else.” The Junge Union thanked Laschet for their “tireless help” and support during the election campaign: “When I came, you were already there.”
Then Laschet swore the Junge Union to the role of the opposition: “We shouldn’t be shrill or clumsy, but put our fingers in the wound wisely and intelligently.” Laschet praised the exploratory paper that the leaders of the Greens, FDP and SPD had presented before the coalition negotiations on Friday: “The paper is fine, we could have participated in some things.” There are “a lot of good things in it”. Many in the Union see it differently.
The “Bild” had reported from confidential meetings for days
The SPD had shown “how to do a closed election campaign. That used to be the strength of the Union, and that must become the strength of the Union again. We have to learn this virtue of standing together if we want to win again.” So that it could go against the political opponent again “and not against each other in the Union family”.
Laschet got really angry at the next point: “The fact that you can read the CDU federal executive in the live ticker was a weakening in the election campaign.” The last CDU boss alluded to indiscretions from talks in Jamaica; imageVice Paul Ronzheimer had read text messages from confidential meetings on TV for days.
In the question and answer session that followed, a delegate from Schleswig-Holstein made “a Berlin bubble decoupled from the public” responsible for the poor performance. The man said: “The worst thing was the role of the self-satisfied Konrad-Adenauer-Haus, which has degenerated into a job center for exchanged JUers and CDUers.” There was strong applause for this, and Laschet replied that the party headquarters needed to be reorganized.
“I feel like shaping this new CDU,” said Spahn
There are five applicants for Laschet’s successor as CDU boss; all took part in the meeting in Münster. Despite all the talk of a “new beginning” and “departure” for the “modern people’s party”, all applicants are male, between 41 and 65 years old, have been active in the party for a long time and come from North Rhine-Westphalia. One of them spoke directly to Laschet: Health Minister and CDU Vice Jens Spahn. In the election campaign, Spahn had given himself as a Laschet confidante, now he wants to be part of the party’s renewal. In a weak speech, Spahn bragged about his pandemic fight and worked on guiding principles. His performance was well received by the audience: “It’s not about Armin, Jens and Friedrich, but about building a strong team. There can only be a future if we stop running.” Nevertheless, Spahn indirectly recommended himself as a new leader: “I would like to shape this new CDU.”
There was a party atmosphere in the hall when Hendrik Wüst walked in. Laschet’s designated successor for his offices as NRW Prime Minister and state party leader is extremely popular in the JU, he called for cohesion: “Attitude instead of division must be the yardstick,” said the incumbent NRW Transport Minister.
The delegates were also enthusiastic about Carsten Linnemann, who is unknown outside of the party. The 44-year-old economic politician calls on the Union to “tackle the very hot things”. These included the future pension system and the contentious issue of civil servants.
“Young brooms sweep well, but the old brush knows the corners,” said Friedrich Merz
Foreign politician Norbert Röttgen was the only one of the five who did not speak a greeting, but was in the audience. Ralph Brinkhaus experienced the most uncomfortable appearance of the contenders on Sunday. After a less self-critical, but all the more shrill speech, a delegate told the Union parliamentary group leader that he was speaking as if he had been an opposition leader for the past few years: “Make yourself honest.”
The general secretaries Paul Ziemiak (CDU) and Markus Blume (CSU) had already received the concentrated anger of the Junge Union for the messed up election campaign and the public disputes between the sister parties. Johannes Winkel, chairman of the JU-NRW, had said: “Both of you are responsible for the fact that in the federal election campaign the Jusos and Olaf Scholz were more united than the CDU and CSU. That is an absolute cheek.” A little later, however, JU boss Kuban and the general secretaries Ziemiak and Blume sat down at the edge of the stage and slipped into the same white sneakers with Germany colors. Winkel found a “beautiful symbol”, “we are now marching in the same direction again”.
Surprisingly, JU boss Kuban gave an indirect rejection of the party chairmanship to Friedrich Merz, the former parliamentary group leader twenty years ago, who had already twice unsuccessfully applied for the office of CDU boss. Kuban had happily welcomed Merz on Friday evening, but told RTL / n-tv on Saturday: “Friedrich Merz is a clever person who can certainly also be there as a consultant and supporter.” But the Union now needs “above all more young, fresh and fresh minds in the party leadership”. In his unsuccessful opening speech, 65-year-old Merz had called the Union a “serious political restructuring case” and said about the reorganization of the party leadership: “Young brooms sweep well, but the old brush knows the corners.”