It is an unwritten law in the CDU: The party leader is in doubt also Chancellery candidate. Especially the supporters of Friedrich Merz want to break with this tradition and thus prevent party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as a candidate. Merz has now spoken out again for debate.
He was in favor of involving the party base in the decision on the chancellor candidate. He considers it "after the experience of last year for good and right, the party members in personnel and material decisions continue to participate well in the future," said the former Union faction leader the newspapers of Funke media group.
With regard to a primary election of the candidate for chancellor, the narrowly defeated candidate for the CDU presidency said that the form of membership participation had to be discussed. In the end it is important that the CDU and CSU have a common candidate for chancellor or a candidate.
Support from Röttgen
On his own ambitions on the Chancellor candidate said the vice-president of the CDU Economic Council, he feels "encouraged by good poll numbers, continue to work" and make a "positive contribution". He considers it "important that the CDU is presented and represented in its entirety, both in economic and social policy as well as in foreign and security policy, as well as in the value basis of our work as a Christian Democratic Union".
For the eagerly awaited party congress in Leipzig, Merz publicly assured his support to the CDU leader Kramp-Karrenbauer. He would also take part in the debate on the Chairperson's report "and a few comments on the situation of the Union and on the issues that we would have to deal with in the next few years".
In addition to the Junge Union, Foreign Minister Norbert Röttgen also advocates grassroots involvement in the Chancellor's question. He considers this "in principle a good idea," said Röttgen in the "morning magazine" of ZDF. "I am in favor of a member, even in such personnel matters." The topic of primary election could play a role at the forthcoming CDU party congress in Leipzig. The Junge Union called this last.
"I think that's something the members can decide," said Röttgen, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag. At the same time, he admitted that this applied in his view to proceedings concerning "manageable personnel decisions" between a small number of applicants. He does not consider a complete party-internal "candidate search process" as practiced by the SPD at the moment.
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