Wing dispute in the Union: Setback for Merkel supporters

These are sentences that CDU chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer could not have said better: "We as Christian Democrats, as a modern people's party, must prove that the trenches thrown up in our society can only be overcome by a respectful and appreciative discussion culture," writes Karin Prien.

The deputy chairman of the CDU in Schleswig-Holstein and education minister there complains that "escalations" would not advance the Union, the polarization leads to "the dividing is more stressed than the connecting".

Now Prien, however, is a woman who until recently was considered the face of the liberal CDU grouping "Union of the Middle". The group of loosely connected CSU and especially CDU members, some of whom could not confront confrontational enough when it came against the opponents in their own ranks - ie against representatives of the ultra-conservative valuesUnion.

For a year and a half, Twitter has witnessed how members of the two groups sometimes approach each other in a way they would otherwise do with political opponents outside their own party. Sometimes people even argued in court.

Prien anyway, as the CDU politician writes in the statement available to the SPIEGEL, has decided "in the future no longer to tweet or speak for the platform 'Union of the Middle'". On Twitter, she was one of the quieter players in the party-internal debate, as there are still quite different in the "Union of the Middle". But Prien, also chairwoman in the Federal Committee for Education and Research of the CDU, was just the most prominent member in their grouping. If she commented, that immediately made headlines - and prompt reactions of ValuesUnion.

On the one hand, Prien's retreat is therefore good news for CDU leader Kramp-Karrenbauer, without which the valuesUnion could also become calmer. Secretary General Paul Ziemiak recently called the party wings to order. "I tell everyone, and especially those who express themselves in the social networks: The political competitor is outside the CDU and not within its own ranks," said Ziemiak in the SPIEGEL interview.

The problem, however, is that the dissent in fundamental political issues within the CDU and CSU is not solved: The "Union of the Middle" wants to continue the core of the policy of Angela Merkel, while the WertUnion Chancellor Merkel would like to see the end today , demands a right-wing change of course and a stronger role for Friedrich Merz, who lost to Kramp-Karrenbauer in the race for the CDU chairmanship. With the step of CDU-Mrs Prien, the valuesUnion sees itself strengthened.

Sensible that Mrs. Prien no longer wants to participate in the hard personal attacks on the #valueUnion. If the other protagonists of the UdM join, this would clear the way for factual discussions about the necessary #political change #CDU #CSU

And first of all, the group led by Alexander Mitsch group of particularly conservative members of CDU and CSU as well as the Union parties related parties can actually feel as a winner. Unlike the loose network of the "Union of the Middle", the WertUnion is a constantly growing organization with its own information according to currently about 3200 members, 16 state associations and almost 30 regional and district associations. Chairman Mitsch reports that there have been 50 new arrivals per day in the recent past.

In addition: In contrast to the now headless "Union of the middle" has the valuesUnion not only a growing organization with a real chairman to offer, but also with ex-the constitutional protection chief Hans-Georg Maaßen a political celebrity. Maaßen not only likes to join on Twitter, but also supported him well-disposed CDU candidates in the state election campaigns in Brandenburg and Saxony. Although the balance sheet does not show a positive effect without further ado, Maaßen wants to do so even before the state election in Thuringia at the end of October.

How Kramp-Karrenbauer stands to Maaßen, is known - and in a meeting with her sympathetic CDU members of parliament recently made it clear to participants, how little she thinks of the WertUnion in general. Because her authority as a party leader is struck, Kramp-Karrenbauer could use loud support from the "Union of the Middle" even more.

But most of all, it would be her if the party's internal adversaries would no longer attack each other in public. After all, the "Union of the Middle" has renamed after Prien departure: one is called on Twitter now "future center".