Laschet says hello in a low voice
These weeks after the federal election could have been a beginning, the greatest possible career step, a breakthrough.
But Armin Laschet is not going to be Chancellor.
But political retirees.
Or?
Enlarge image
Predecessor Lascher, successor Wüst
Photo: SASCHA STEINBACH / EPA
Laschet's 60 years is not yet an age for a politician, but everywhere there are signs of farewell.
From 100 to 0 in a few weeks.
In Berlin, Laschet tries to moderate the successor process in the party.
On Saturday, the
more than 300 CDU district
chairmen
will meet
in a hotel in the capital to discuss how much basic participation is allowed for the election of the fourth chairman within four years.
Next Tuesday, the party executive will take the vote of the district chairman and present
a timetable
.
The aim is to clarify the leadership issue this year.
The way there remains so far: unclear.
In Düsseldorf, the former Minister-President (retired) is allowed to give a farewell speech this Wednesday afternoon
("It was a pleasure, an honor, Glückauf") before he
elects
his previous Transport Minister,
Hendrik Wüst,
to be his successor.
Parallel lives: Laschet appears subdued in the plenum of the state parliament, somehow sad.
On the other hand, Olaf Scholz, who is about to giggle with his green and yellow government partners, at the constituent session of the Bundestag on Tuesday - what a difference.
Both men have started their political careers.
Scholz won, Laschet lost.
Enlarge image
Kohl challenged Chancellor Schmidt in May 1976
Photo: Heinz_Wieseler / picture-alliance / dpa / dpaweb
Armin Laschet thus plays a rather rare role among the failed candidates for chancellor in German history:
He will not return to his previous political life as Prime Minister like
Edmund Stoiber
,
Johannes Rau
or
Franz Josef Strauss
once
did.
Like
Willy Brandt
,
Helmut Kohl
or
Erich Ollenhauer,
he will not get a second chance for a candidacy
.
He is not facing a second career as Federal Minister like
Rudolf Scharping
or
Rainer Barzel
.
He will not become party leader like
Hans-Jochen Vogel
or
Oskar Lafontaine
.
And Federal President like
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
?
Hardly likely.
No, Laschet will probably share the fate of a small minority of candidates: saying goodbye to the big political stage, like
Martin Schulz
and
Peer Steinbrück
before him.
For now he is a simple member of the Union in the Bundestag.
The failed candidate for chancellor as a backbencher.
A coalition is made
The so-called working group phase at the traffic light coalition negotiations has been running since Wednesday: In 22 working groups with 300 members from "Modern State and Democracy" to "Finances and Budget", the contents of the red-green-yellow treaty are to be clarified as far as possible;
before the main negotiators take over after November 10th to bring the alliance to the finish line by the end of November.
Enlarge image
Yellow-green partners Lindner, Habeck, Baerbock
Photo: CHRISTOF STACHE / AFP
In addition to the candidate for chancellor, these main negotiators include the party leaders, general secretaries and other experts.
The new chancellor is to be elected for calendar week 49 - around Nicholas.
So much for the theory, now the practical test is underway.
Incidentally, it is quite possible that the future ministers are already sitting in the working groups and are thus involved in negotiating their own agenda.
As the saying goes: first the content, then the personnel issues.
Already clear.
Wink smiley.
What we can see here, however, is that the
future finance minister
is missing from the Finanz-AG.
Because neither Green leader Robert Habeck nor the FDP chairman Christian Lindner are represented there.
In the past few days, the two had already given each other a
tax ping pong
.
While Habeck (together with Scholz) pointed out in »Anne Will« that relief for small and medium incomes is only possible with increasing tax revenues.
Since the FDP prevents tax increases (for higher earners), there is no room for maneuver.
Do not find them funny in the FDP.
Lindner put it this way: "We still consider it desirable that lower and middle incomes are relieved."
But the SPD and the Greens "tie tax relief to increases elsewhere, which we do not believe is right in view of the necessary economic recovery in our country «.
Well, let's wait and see.
And until then: the Merkel government will remain in office.
Celebration of democracy
"The office of Federal Chancellor or a Federal Minister ends in any case with the assembly of a new Bundestag" - this is what
Article 69 of the Basic Law
says
.
That is why Angela Merkel did not sit on the government bench at the constituent session of parliament on Tuesday.
And because she no longer has a seat as a member of parliament, she took a seat next to the Federal President in the visitors' gallery.
Enlarge image
Federal President Steinmeier, Managing Chancellor Merkel, former Parliament President Süssmuth in the Bundestag stand
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
At the next session of the Bundestag, however, Merkel and her cabinet members will sit down on the government side again.
Because the Federal President has asked them to continue their official business until their successor has been appointed.
After Kurt Georg Kiesiger, Merkel is only the second Chancellor without a Bundestag mandate - even if only in a provisional role.
Incidentally, I was impressed by the speech by Wolfgang Schäuble as the senior president of Parliament - especially the plea against all varieties of client and identity politics.
"Let's not confuse representation with representativeness,"
warned Schäuble: the individual members of parliament do not simply represent part of the people, but are representatives of the entire people.
Schäuble continues: »Even if the increased diversity of our society should be reflected in the parliament - the Bundestag will never be an exact reflection of the population.
Anyone who equates representation with representativeness will find an abundance of blatant deviations: in professional, regional, cultural or religious respects
. "
Such an equation, however, promotes “the erroneous understanding” that social groups can only be represented by their own members. ”His conclusion:
“ Our representative democracy is based on the political equality of all citizens - regardless of their socio-cultural ones Characteristics."
This is exactly how it is - unless this plea for equality is misunderstood as a plea against diversity.
The constituency of the week: # 115
The new Bundestag President Bärbel Bas did not forget to mention her home town Duisburg in her first speech: Diversity is an opportunity for all of us, said the SPD politician, who belongs to the minority of non-academics and non-high school graduates in the Bundestag.
The previous health politician Bas won her constituency of Duisburg I with 40.3 percent of the first votes
and thus got around twice as many votes as the second-placed CDU applicant.
"By the way, Duisburg, where I was born, has never seen a child in the city elected to such a high state office," Bas said, smiling afterwards: "I had to get rid of that now and then."
It's correct.
So far, the Green
Anja Hajduk
as Hamburg's
Senator for the
Environment (2008 to 2010) and the CDU politician
Sabine Weiss
as Parliamentary State Secretary at Health Minister Jens Spahn (since 2018) have
achieved high positions
.
Enlarge image
President of the Bundestag Bas
Photo:
Michael Kappeler / dpa
The social democrat
Helga Kühn-Mengel
was the Federal Government's patient commissioner (2004 to 2009).
The CDU politician
Aenne Brauksiepe
was Federal Family Minister under Chancellor Kiesinger.
And SPD woman
Luise Albertz
mayor of Oberhausen (1946 to 1948).
Do you notice something?
Exactly, they are all women.
In Duisburg and out of Duisburg, women in particular are obviously making careers.
Horst Schimanski remains an exception.
What the polls say
Apparently, most Germans see the exploratory talks of the Ampel partners as a success for the FDP - and expect that at the end of the coalition negotiations, the liberals will be able to prevail most strongly.
According to a survey by the opinion research institute Civey for SPIEGEL, this is expected by a
majority of supporters from the FDP, the left, the Union parties, the Greens and the SPD
;
Among AfD sympathizers, the FDP and the Greens are in balance on this issue.
What is particularly interesting is the high level of confidence shown by the FDP supporters and those of the Greens and the Union.
Half of Germans say that they will not miss Angela Merkel after her tenure as Federal Chancellor.
The expectation of missing people is most pronounced among supporters of Union parties and the Greens.
But even among left-wing sympathizers, almost one in three states that they will miss Merkel in the future.
There is little movement on the Sunday question.
The SPD is still clearly ahead of the CDU and CSU.
The Greens, FDP and AfD are fighting for third place.
The left sticks to the five percent mark.
The social media moment of the week ...
... belongs to
Peter Altmaier
.
The Saarlander has waived his parliamentary mandate for younger people - and packed his painful farewell on Tuesday in a sympathetic and self-critical tweet.
His "sorry for mistakes" has given Altmaier more than 23,000 likes for the tweet so far.
The stories of the week
I would particularly like to recommend these politically relevant stories from our capital city office to you:
Traffic light talks between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP: These traps are now lurking in the coalition negotiations
New Bundestag - end of the old government: "The office of Chancellor Angela Merkel has come to an end"
Bundestag President Bärbel Bas: The new one
Sincerely,
your Sebastian Fischer
And once again the note on our own behalf: You can order this briefing as a newsletter in your e-mail inbox here.
