They all want to become CDU chairman and Laschet successor: Friedrich Merz, Norbert Röttgen and Helge Braun answer questions from members. Merz attracts attention with harsh statements.
Berlin – You want to be the successor to the failed CDU chancellor candidate Armin Laschet in the party chairmanship: the conservative Friedrich Merz, foreign politician Norbert Röttgen and Merkel’s confidante Helge Braun. And: It is getting more intense in advertising for the job as CDU boss.
The three candidates answered questions from party members together for the first time on Wednesday evening (December 1). In the Berlin party headquarters, the economic politician Merz, ex-Environment Minister Röttgen and the Executive Minister of the Chancellery, Braun, faced each other. Under strict Corona rules, individual party members were also there who were allowed to ask questions. And they did so emphatically. Explanation: After the historically poor performance in the federal election in 2021, the CDU is holding a member survey on the future party chairman for the first time.
CDU party chairmanship: Friedrich Merz, Norbert Röttgen and Helge Braun in Triell against each other
Voting will start on December 4th and the result should be available on December 17th. If a runoff is necessary, the second round of voting would run until January 12th. On January 21st and 22nd, a digital party congress will officially choose Laschet’s successor, who, according to CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak, has to be confirmed by postal vote.
Leave the cell phones outside.
It got serious. Röttgen called the federal election “a turning point. We are at risk in our character as a people’s party ”. Friedrich Merz looked at the “four state elections in the next year that we have to pass”. He advertised that he wanted to work with five deputy party chairmen and promised with a view to the latest leaks: “I will ask everyone in the meetings to leave their cell phones outside.” Merz spoke in particular to the members and people from the east of the Republic on. “German unity is not yet complete in the minds of many people. Many people in the East are more sensitive than in the West, “he said and issued a ban on working with AfD. Otherwise he threatens “with very severe consequences”. With a view to the AfD, he regretted that from the “five new countries, I’ll leave Berlin out, only 21 members of the CDU” would come.
Triell around CDU party chairmanship between Friedrich Merz, Norbert Röttgen and Helge Braun
Merkel’s confidante Braun promised “a chairman who has the ability to make many other faces shine for the CDU”. There should be “no more camps” in the party, instead “a strong CDU”.
Röttgen tried to score points through climate policy. Under him, the CDU should become the “best climate political party in Germany and compete with the traffic lights,” he said. Merz, on the other hand, called for “new types of power plants that can work CO2-neutrally.” Clear signals to the industry.
In the video: Merz, Braun, Röttgen – the applicants for the CDU chairmanship
Housing was also an obligatory part of the debate that is bothering many people in the country. Braun wants to “promote building land.” Röttgen pleaded for: “Build, build!” Rural areas should be better connected so that “the pressure in the cities is less due to the development of rural areas,” he said.
Merz, on the other hand, asked: “Aren’t we building far too complicated and far too expensive? Here we build for eternity, in Holland for two generations. Only in Switzerland do people have even less property. We must turn a people of tenants into a people of owners. It’s a long way. “
CDU: dual leadership with a woman? Merz, Röttgen and Braun all deny this
It became exciting when asked about a possible dual leadership together with a woman. Because: All three candidates categorically refused. Röttgen: “That is not our CDU culture. We would imitate the Greens with dual leadership. I don’t think that’s a strong position. ”Another question was how to get more women excited about the CDU. Braun indicated forums “where young women and families can get involved with their issues. The federal association must ensure that. ”
Norbert Röttgen promised “special formats for target groups – congresses aimed at women. So that the first experience is not a deterrent experience, but an invitation, ”he said with a view to his opinion of outdated and male district associations. Merz said that in the “Bundestag election campaign he was (was) deliberately in constituencies in which women were nominated. In the future, I’ll make extra calls before elections to promote women standing, ”he said, and said:“ I’ll get involved. Also for the price that one or the other man will be angry. ” (pm)
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