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In the debate about the candidacy for chancellor within the Union, former Interior Minister Horst Seehofer speaks out in favor of Friedrich Merz.
Augsburg – Former CSU leader Horst Seehofer clearly supports Friedrich Merz as the Union’s candidate for chancellor. “We should be careful not to repeat 2021. Friedrich Merz is doing his job as party and parliamentary group leader very well. He has brought order to the CDU,” said the former Federal Minister of the Interior of the Augsburg General on Saturday (29 June).
Before the last federal election, the then CDU leader Armin Laschet and CSU leader Markus Söder had fought publicly for months for the Union’s candidacy – the SPD politician Olaf Scholz was ultimately chosen as chancellor. When asked whether Merz was the right man for the job, Seehofer replied: “Yes.” If the Union were to provide the chancellor, however, a “Herculean task” awaits them, said Seehofer, stressing: “What we have to offer is problem-solving and first-class communication. And not self-promotion. That won’t work.”
Praise for Scholz from Seehofer: The Chancellor’s stance in the Ukraine war was “exactly right”
Seehofer, who turns 75 next week, unexpectedly praised Scholz for his cautious approach to arms deliveries to Ukraine. “I have always thought that was the right thing to do, even if my party sees it differently.” The Chancellor’s reticence on the issue of the Taurus cruise missiles, for example, was “exactly right,” Seehofer told the newspaper. When it came to the question of the Chancellor, however, Seehofer stabbed his former CSU colleague in the back and held back.
Seehofer remained tight-lipped about Söder: “On Markus Söder, I will only say this much: I elected him as Prime Minister in a secret ballot, even though the change of office was accompanied by unpleasant circumstances. And as my successor, I will not constantly interfere in his work.”
The feud between Söder and Laschet made headlines in the last federal election. Before the next election in 2025, many within the Union fear that there could be renewed quarrels, as the Bavarian Broadcasting The ambitious Bavarian commented in April in the ARD-Program “Hart aber fair”: “The probability that it will be one of us is given.” Because: “It has to be one of us,” Söder decided.
Söder again as possible candidate for chancellor of the Union? Wüst also wants to get involved
And in the run-up to the elections, Söder already seems to be presenting himself as a statesman. With his trips abroad, such as to China, Sweden, Italy or Israel, Söder may want to underline his national political ambitions, as CSU expert Heinrich Oberreuter believes.
Meanwhile, a third person had crept into the discussion about the K question within the Union. The Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst (CDU), does not want to completely rule out a possible candidacy for chancellor. “I think the question is open, otherwise we would have decided. And as long as it is not decided, it is open,” said the minister in the ARD-Program “Confrontation: Markus Feldenkirchen meets Hendrik Wüst”. (sischr/dpa)
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