Spectacular CDU news on Tuesday morning: Foreign expert Norbert Röttgen has registered his candidacy for the CDU chairmanship.
- After the election debacle in Thuringia, party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer declared that she would not be the candidate for chancellor of the Union.
- This sparked a power struggle within the CDU for its successor.
- Surprisingly, Norbert Röttgen is now also reporting.
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11.41 a.m .: Norbert Röttgen initially only wants to reach for the party chair - and not necessarily for the chancellor's candidacy. He wanted to do it the way the CDU always did: in the CDU, the chair should be clarified - but the candidate for chancellor should then be clarified with the CSU. The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder had also spoken in favor of this on the previous day. In this way, Röttgen could have confused Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer's efforts to steer the search for successors within the party and without a public power struggle.
11:31: The CDU foreign expert Norbert Röttgen speaks absolutely against the party on the left even on request. The left does not distinguish itself clearly enough against left-wing radicalism, says Röttgen. The party must first deal with its SED past.
Röttgen considers these points to be so serious that they should not be ignored for tactical reasons . Even if the CDU loses votes, this pressure should not be ignored. Even if the citizens supported the left.
11:21: Norbert Röttgen gives six reasons for his candidacy : "First: The CDU is the party of the middle", which makes it imperative to draw borders to the right and left. Röttgen emphasizes the demarcation from the AfD and the left in the classic Kramp-Karrenbauer tenor.
Secondly, the " CDU is the party of German unity". A democratic dialogue between East and West Germany is needed to overcome the gap. Third, the reasons that led to the strengthening of the shift to the right in Germany had to be eliminated. The “demarcation from the AfD alone is not enough,” says Röttgen. People felt abandoned. In a time of dramatic change, people experience no policies that protect them, Röttgen says in his statement. The citizens are afraid, according to Röttgen. And there is only one remedy for fear: "talking". Röttgen calls this talking the return of politics.
CDU hammer: Nobody had him on the screen - now surprise candidate wants to completely renew the CDU
The fourth reason, the fourth problem that Röttgen apparently wants to solve with his candidacy, is war. He wants to promote that one should speak about the escalation in Syria and other sources of fire while it is developing. The EU sees similar problems that are not discussed. "We need a European answer to questions", not because of, but despite the pressure exerted on the EU from outside.
The fifth reason Röttgen wants to start is environmental policy . The CDU needs better ecological competence. Otherwise you will lose an entire generation of voters. "Without ecological competence, there is no future competence."
The sixth point: "The CDU as a party of the middle must strengthen the middle of society." There are fears, said Röttgen. You have to face this. As a party, you have to remain open, talk and unite in Europe.
11:01: Norbert Röttgen explains his surprising candidacy with an emergency. According to Röttgen, he had attended the Munich Security Conference - and all of his foreign partners had asked him about the CDU leadership crisis.
It is not about personal ambitions, says Röttgen: "It is about the content and strategic direction of the CDU", and because he has heard little about it, since CDU boss Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has given up her resignation, he is running himself.
The problems of the established parties could not be solved with a personnel decision, says Röttgen. "These problems cannot be solved with a Messiah."
CDU hammer: Norbert Röttgen wants to run for the CDU chair
10:54: Norbert Röttgen (CDU) is now coming to the federal press conference and wants to make his candidacy public. Röttgen is the first to have publicly announced his candidacy for the CDU chairmanship. The other candidates, Friedrich Merz, Jens Spahn and Armin Laschet, are getting interested in party circles. None of the others has yet made any public statements.
There is still no statement on Röttgen's candidacy from the CDU party headquarters in Berlin.
10:38: The announcement by Norbert Röttgen to run for the CDU chairmanship comes as a surprise on Tuesday morning. And at a time when the party is currently in the process of ensuring an unobtrusive solution with little power struggle, shortly before the outgoing party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on Tuesday first with Merz and on Wednesday also with Laschet and Spahn over their Wanted to speak ambitions. The CDU party circles said that it was assumed that, like the other candidates, there would also be an appointment by Kramp-Karrenbauer with Röttgen in the next few days.
CDU hammer: Norbert Röttgen wants to run for the CDU chair
9.50 a.m .: Norbert Röttgen wants to publicly comment on his surprising candidacy for the party chair at 11 a.m. in a press conference. A day earlier, the Bavarian sister party CSU had made it clear that the CDU should deal with its new chairman, but could not choose the new candidate for chancellor at the same time. Prime Minister Markus Söder made it clear that the decision to stand for the Union was “not without the CSU” and suggested that the search for the candidate for chancellor be suspended for a few more months. Maybe that's why Röttgen dared to take cover.
Friedrich Merz, North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Armin Laschet *, Health Minister Jens Spahn and Söder are currently considered possible successors to CDU leader * Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.
CDU hammer: Nobody had him on the screen - suddenly new candidacy for party leadership
First announcement February 18, 2020: The CDU foreign expert Norbert Röttgen (54) has registered his candidacy for the CDU chairmanship . The Düsseldorf Rheinische Post reports this, referring to a letter from Röttgen to party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer * .
Röttgen argues that he is firmly convinced that it is about much more than the party presidency and certainly not about the interests of individuals. "The situation is so serious that it is about the future of the CDU and what it means for the stability of Germany," said Röttgen. He wanted to bring this into the CDU in an open process .
Röttgen was Federal Minister for the Environment from 2009 to 2012 and prevailed against Armin Laschet in a member survey in 2010 about the NRW state presidency . He lost the state elections in 2012, whereupon Chancellor Angela Merkel released him from the cabinet. As chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag, he was then able to profile himself internationally.
This surprising message is received by citizens in different ways. For example, a user writes sarcastically on Twitter: "First Merz, then Röttgen - this is the new season of The Walking Dead"
First Merz, now # Röttgen, is this the new season of The Walking Dead?
I anticipate a resurrection and candidature of Kohl at any time.
* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.
