DThe former President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Hans-Georg Maaßen, has big plans: The 61-year-old wants to get started with a new party – and get out of the political sidelines in which the long-time CDU member finds himself. Maaßen has been in constant conflict with the CDU leadership for some time – since last year, party expulsion proceedings have been underway against the former top official and current head of the Union of Values, a club in which particularly conservative members of the CDU and CSU are also represented. The Union of Values is not a party division of the CDU, but has sought proximity to it for a long time.
General meeting should clear the way for the party
At a general meeting on Saturday in Erfurt, a first important step towards founding a party will be taken: According to a spokesman, several hundred members of the association are expected. Formally, it is about their consent to transfer the naming rights to the Values Union to the planned party. The Union of Values should also remain in existence as a support association. The decision will be made behind closed doors – “Members' meetings of the Union of Values have always taken place behind closed doors,” is the reasoning behind it. In contrast to parties, associations can meet internally.
At the beginning of January, Maaßen surprisingly announced the founding of the party. He attracted nationwide attention – the CDU leadership did not officially comment. It would be the second prominent party to be founded this year, after former left-wing politician Sahra Wagenknecht founded the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance at the beginning of January. Both formations also aim to steal voters from the AfD.
Maaßen wants a change in policy
Maaßen, who belongs to the Thuringian CDU state association and who unsuccessfully ran for the Bundestag in southern Thuringia in 2021, is toying with his party running in the state elections in Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg in September. “The party could already run in the upcoming East German state elections and would work with all parties that support this program and that are ready for a political change in Germany,” he explained.
And it would be a departure from the Union of Values, which claims to currently have more than 4,000 members of the CDU and CSU – according to the Union of Values, many of its members belong to one of the Union parties. It remains to be seen how many measures will follow. “Many people want to change. The CDU doesn’t want us,” said one of the state chairmen of the Union of Values.
Maaßen versus Merkel-CDU
They share Maaßen's view that the Union parties have no longer represented their core brand since the era of Chancellor Angela Merkel – that is “freedom instead of socialism”. In 2023 it became clear that the CDU federal chairman Friedrich Merz and the federal executive board “are not ready for a policy change,” said Maaßen. “Merkel’s policies have caused significant damage to Germany in all political areas.”
The Union of Values does not want to be pushed into a right-wing corner: It “clearly, unequivocally and in all forms distances itself from ALL political-extremist efforts of unconstitutional or anti-constitutional character!”, it declared as a precautionary measure to the general meeting.
The potential of founding a party
The chances of a conservative party between the CDU/CSU and AfD are controversial. The first survey results have been available for a few days: According to a survey, around 15 percent of citizens can imagine voting for her.
In a survey conducted by the Insa Institute on behalf of “Junge Freiheit”, five percent answered that they could “definitely” imagine voting for a party from Maaßen, while ten percent could rather imagine it. The majority of those surveyed, on the other hand, are skeptical: 62 percent said they “not at all” or “not at all” could imagine it.
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