After its historic disaster in the federal election, the CDU wants to re-elect the entire federal executive committee at a party congress. This was decided unanimously, said CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak on Monday after deliberations of the top committees in Berlin.
The CDU leadership actually wants to leave the procedure for electing a new chairman to a district chairman conference, which is planned for October 30th. The main focus here is on ways of basic participation. In the light of this opinion, the party executive will decide on the procedure on November 2nd and then also set the date for the special party conference, said Ziemiak. It is clear, however, that it should take place around the end of the year.
In the meeting, which lasted longer than scheduled, the different opinions on the procedure, which had already become clear before the meeting, were expressed. The Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer, for example, called for a quick, comprehensive cut. “All functions have to be re-selected”, demanded Kretschmer – for this year. This refers to the entire party presidium and the federal board of the CDU, the bodies that advise on how to proceed after the historic election defeat of the Union. In addition to Kretschmer, other leading CDU politicians are also pushing for a complete reorganization of the party.
On the other hand, there had been warning words the evening before from the former Bundestag President Norbert Lammert, who now heads the CDU-affiliated Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Lammert criticized the fact that some in the party considered speed to be even more important than the “careful processing” of a fundamentally new situation for the Union. After the election defeat, “a tsunami hit the party.”
Some thought they already knew exactly that no stone could remain unturned. But for the “supposed clearance sale” it is worthwhile to think about whether one or the other valuable item can still be found, said Lammert.
Laschet wants to moderate the process
Party leader Armin Laschet announced his readiness to withdraw last Thursday. But so far it was unclear how exactly it should go on. On this Monday, Laschet wants to explain his ideas for a special party congress that is supposed to initiate the renewal of the party. He wants to moderate the process of finding his successor himself. Laschet strives for an amicable solution without personnel disputes.
He received surprising support for the basic idea on Monday from the Bavarian CSU parliamentary group leader Thomas Kreuzer. He warned the sister party after a meeting of the Union faction leaders of the federal and state levels in Magdeburg of a controversial decision, which falls with 51 to 49 percent. The CDU now needs a chairman who will find broad support in the party and in the population.
Althusmann expects a “competitive decision”
In the party, however, many consider an amicable solution between the potential candidates to be a pious wish. The Lower Saxony CDU chairman Bernd Althusmann predicted a “competition decision” in the “Morgenmagazin”. Board member Mike Mohring also considered an amicable solution to be unthinkable: “No, I don’t see that,” he said.
Above all, there is discussion about integrating the grassroots strongly. “Not a burden, but a matter of course from my point of view,” said Kretschmer. One had to advise whether this would happen through a membership decision or in some other way. “Nobody should give the impression that the party base could now be pushed aside.” With this, Kretschmer set himself apart from Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), who had spoken out in favor of leaving the personnel decisions to a party congress. The calls for grassroots involvement had already grown louder last week.
AKK taunts against Merz
When entering the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus, the Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans once again reminded of the withdrawal of Ministers Peter Altmaier and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in favor of younger MPs. What is needed now is a “new sound” from the CDU. This includes a modern family policy, but also a modern climate policy that dispels the “myth” that climate protection costs nothing.
Altmaier and Kramp-Karrenbauer had described their withdrawal as a model for a general rejuvenation of the party. Kramp-Karrenbauer targeted Friedrich Merz by name. The party is now in a situation “in which you can not only write that the ‘CDU’ must be written larger than the self, but you have to do it,” she said on Saturday. This took up almost literally a tweet from the 65-year-old “I would like us to write the three letters #CDU larger than the letters I,” Merz wrote.
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