Historian takes CDU apart: “The party must now break away from Merkel”

Berlin – two lost state elections, corruption scandals and bad corona management – the CDU is currently facing several tangible crises. So far, Armin Laschet has not been able to contribute to setting the CDU on a new path. Andreas Rödder Professor of Modern History in Mainz and CDU member says in a guest post for the imagethat the party “learn to walk [muss] – and without Merkel ”.

After state elections: CDU without a strong draft horse

The CDU is currently lacking a strong workhorse. Naturally, the party leader would accept the candidacy for chancellor, but Armin Laschet has not yet answered the K question. Andreas Rödder says that Laschet “has to get out of Merkel’s shadow. He has to say what the party stands for and where he would like to go with it – just as he has done as CDU regional leader in North Rhine-Westphalia and Prime Minister in recent years ”. At the state level, the Laschet has already succeeded.

Laschet now has the chance to shine as a crisis manager or to despair over the many problems of the CDU. Rödder is of the opinion that the CDU is at a similar point of transition as it was after the Kohl era. At that time, the former CDU general secretary Angela Merkel demanded from her party colleagues that they part with Helmut Kohl and “learn to walk, trust themselves, in the future without their old warhorse”. According to Rödder, the same must now also happen.

After losing state elections: Armin Laschet under pressure

Influential CDU politicians like Thomas de Maizière also see an urgent need for action. In Anne Will’s talk show on Sunday, de Maizière complained about the CDU’s many problems “Now we have to collect broken pieces. We have a huge trust problem with regard to the mask affair ”. De Maizière thinks that another problem for the CDU is the unclear content. “It is clear that things cannot go on as before. It is also clear that the content must become clearer ”. Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer is also critical of the situation. “We have to speak urgently in the next few days” about the pandemic strategy, said Kretschmer. In addition, the state elections are an expression of the dissatisfaction “We have things to clarify”.

But before Laschet can assert himself as a crisis manager, he must first assert himself against the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder on the chancellor question. On Monday, Laschet made a statement on the election defeat and the K question. At the press conference stated that the question between East and Pentecost should be decided. (phf)