Of course they would like in the CDU like Sebastian Kurz. Alone because of the 38.4 percent, which he has just brought with his ÖVP in the Austrian National Council elections. With regard to the current poll numbers of the Union parties, this is almost a utopian figure: about ten percentage points lower are CDU and CSU.
Short, 33, the Austrian sister party has led to a result of which one can only dream in Germany at present, under CDU chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer the Christian Democrats are weakening as never before. And success is the highest standard in politics - especially in the conservatives.
Only: A short as the party has not to offer, even the CSU not. And what Kurz has done politically until the Ibiza affair ended the coalition with the FPÖ, would be unthinkable for a German Union politician anyway.
National Council election 2019
Preliminary final result without absentee ballot
distribution of votes
Shares in percent
ÖVP
38.4
+6.9
SPÖ
21.5
-5.4
FPÖ
17.3
-8.7
Neos
7.4
+2.1
List now
1.9
-2.5
green
12.4
+8.6
Source: Federal Ministry of the Interior Austria
Results in detail
So it's more of a potpourri of different sounds, which can be heard after Kurz's electoral success from the Union. Some praise him for his clear profile, the others for his political unity, the ultra-conservative union of values because he has "not turned to the left". Secretary General Paul Ziemiak sums it up quite nicely when he arrives at the press conference on early Monday afternoon. "I believe Sebastian Kurz's success has many reasons, not all of which are one-to-one transferable to politics in the Federal Republic of Germany," says Ziemiak.
In fact, Sebastian Kurz is a political mix of Kramp-Karrenbauer and the four gentlemen who should someday save the Union, if it goes on with this CDU chairman on.
- He is as thoughtful as Kramp-Karrenbauer, but he can formulate short, clear sentences.
- Like the 39-year-old Jens Spahn, the ÖVP boss is actually still a junior - but he was already chancellor.
- With conservative angularity it can take a short break with Friedrich Merz, it just seems much more modern.
- Like Armin Laschet, he has worked as a state secretary for many years on integration issues, but in the recent past has rather attracted attention as a migration hardliner.
- And the Bierzelttauglichkeit of CSU boss Markus Söder has short all, except that many citizens in his country also consider him credible.
In short, there is no chancellor next to her
To the truth also belongs: In short, the ex-and soon-re-chancellor is far and wide the number 1 in the ÖVP - while in Germany Angela Merkel as head of government without CDU office, the policy continues to dominate, without their party would benefit , On the contrary.
And then there's the matter with the FPÖ. While the leaders of the CDU and CSU have established a political firewall for the AfD and exclude coalitions at the state level, Kurz showed little fears of contact after the election in autumn 2017 and at that time entered into an alliance with the Austrian right-wing populists. Even after the scandal surrounding his then FDÖ vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache and the subsequent break of the government, he continues to leave it open to form a new coalition of this kind.
Is this a "crystal clear attitude towards people and parties that discredit democratic principles", as described by Thuringia's CDU lead candidate Mike Mohring? This is an excellent argument - in Austria this course is extremely successful for Kurz.
In any case, the CDU wants to check out the modern communication of the ÖVP boss. Secretary-General Ziemiak presented a new concept on Monday in the executive committees, with which the party wants to act faster and better, especially in the social media. The offices are to be digitized and the staff trained accordingly.
Modern and stale at the same time
Building on this, the CDU wants to present itself as a modern conservative party - with a mix of new and old ideas. In the 24-page lead proposal "Sustainability, growth, prosperity - the social market economy of tomorrow", which will provide the basis for the deliberations at the federal party conference in late November in Leipzig, on the one hand, for some Christian Democrats still revolutionary pricing of CO2 for more climate protection but also stressed the "black zero" in the sense of sustainable budget policy.
Many economists have changed their point of view on this subject and, in view of the deteriorating economy, are calling for a departure from the principle. But the renunciation of new state loans, which would even be possible within the framework of the debt braces enshrined in the Basic Law, remains a mantra for the CDU leadership. If you talk about sustainability, you can not "fall over at the first gust of wind", which also has something to do with intergenerational justice, says Secretary General Ziemiak.
A second lead application is entitled "Digital Charter Innovation Platform: D". It's about concepts that will allow Germany to be more competitive against the competition from the US and China. Even a "future agenda" the CDU wants to work for Germany in the future.
But the black zero, that must stand.
