CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt has confirmed that Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz is a clear favorite in the election of the candidate for chancellor next year. When asked in the “Rheinische Post” whether the CDU and CSU would clarify the personnel hand in hand, Dobrindt mentioned the name of the CDU leader on his own initiative: “We are ready to take responsibility together as a federal government to take over. There will be a candidate for chancellor, and Friedrich Merz is the clear favorite.”
A few days ago, the CSU boss and Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder, who many people do not believe that he no longer has any ambitions to run for office, had granted Merz a role as a favorite only in the event of an early federal election, for example as a result of the traffic light breaking soon. Coalition. Otherwise, he told the magazine “Stern”: “The key question in the candidacy for chancellor is: Who can concentrate the votes of the Union most strongly? Then the CDU has to decide.” Söder is usually ahead in the polls.
The next federal election will take place regularly in autumn 2025. However, Dobrindt once again brought up the possibility of new elections: “New elections are still not off the table. There is still no agreed budget for 2024 – and what has now been announced leaves many questions unanswered,” said Dobrind. And further: “It is still completely unclear whether the traffic light leaders will be able to rally their respective parties behind this budget mirage.”
According to the CSU politician, he expects a significant dispute between the traffic light parties. “In this ongoing government crisis, new elections would be the better way. The further the traffic light drives the polarization of society, the stronger the radical fringes become. The longer the traffic light lasts, the greater the political damage to the country will be,” said Dobrindt. The Union has offered the Chancellor its support several times, for example to deal with the migration and energy crisis. These offers were never accepted. “At some point the time for that will run out. The traffic light treats the largest opposition faction disrespectfully,” said Dobrindt, citing the electoral law reform as an example. “In all my years in the Bundestag, I have never experienced such an icy and poisonous climate as it is currently. There is a total alienation between the factions,” Dobrindt continued.
The CSU regional group leader did not rule out a new lawsuit by the Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag against the new budget for 2024. “If we have evidence that the 2024 budget is unconstitutional, we will definitely take the matter to the Federal Constitutional Court again.”
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