The CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has called on internal opponents to seek open discussion at the upcoming party congress. "In any case, this is the better opportunity than in the background to whip up one or the other," she said in the ARD program by Anne Will. "That's why I'm always in favor of openly discussing things that are being discussed in the party."
This is especially about the chancellor candidate. The CDU party congress is due in two weeks. The Junge Union calls for a decision on the Chancellor candidate by a member decision, which was understood as an affront to Kramp-Karrenbauer. The former faction leader Friedrich Merz had said again, the question of whether he wants to run himself, not on - but: "I feel encouraged."
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Kramp-Karrenbauer does not want to know the party convention as a preliminary decision about her role. "It's not about a liberation," she said. Rather, according to her words, it is about sharpening the profile of the CDU and increasing the electoral chances. "If Friedrich Merz and whoever speaks in the debate to make his contribution to this programmatic sharpening, then that's good for the party."
At the same time Kramp-Karrenbauer referred to the previous plan of the party to decide on the chancellor candidate only at another congress in 2020. She said: "As CDU chairperson, I drive the process forward from the leadership position."
