Two candidates for Merkel's succession join forces against the rupturist aspirant

Long start in Berlin, with surprise included, of the candidates to preside over Angela Merkel's party. The Minister of Health and until Tuesday one of the four candidates to lead the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Jens Spahn, has resigned to compete alone and has joined as number two to the candidacy of Armin Laschet, one of the contenders With more possibilities. The idea is to join forces to counteract the pull of Friedrich Merz, the most right-wing candidate and, above all, the most rupturist with Merkel's legacy.

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The resignation a couple of weeks ago of Merkel's dolphin, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, to the presidency of the party, opened the race for succession in the largest European economy. The CDU, immersed in an acute crisis, will hold on April 25 an extraordinary congress in which it will elect its new leader, who will foreseeably be the candidate for chancery in the general elections of autumn 2021, when the fourth and final term expires from Merkel. That as long as the CSU, the Bavarian sister of the CDU, approves the candidate.

This Tuesday in Berlin, three of the candidates presented their candidacy to the press, making it clear that beyond personalities, the battle is fought around Merkel's legacy. Two of the candidates - Laschet and Norbert Röttgen, who already presented their candidacy last week - advocate the continuity of the Merkelian center. In front of them, Merz, a wealthy 64-year-old business advisor and historic rival of the chancellor, proposed "a new beginning." "I represent the change, the renewal of the CDU," said Merz, who promises to recover conservative voters who have migrated to the extreme right.

Merz has the support of many of those in the CDU accuse Merkel of having "socialized" the party, opening a gap in the political space to the ultra-right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD). They deny above all the open-door policy that allowed the entry of more than one million asylum seekers in 2015. “If a government loses control of migration in their country, it should not be surprised if it loses people's trust” Merz said Tuesday.

A possible triumph of his would inject strong doses of instability into German politics. His enmity with Merkel - the chancellor replaced him as head of the party in Parliament in 2002 and years later, Merz abandoned the policy - causes tensions between the head of the Government and that of the party. His victory would also hinder a possible coalition with Los Verdes, the second party to vote according to the polls.

Laschet and Spahn form a heterogeneous tandem that aspires to seduce the different currents that coexist in the party. Laschet, 59, is the head of government in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state in Germany, and a fervent defender of Merkel's legacy. Younger (39 years old) and critical of Merkel's refugee policy, Spahn represents the right-wing wing of the party. "We have to be united," said Spahn, who felt that the CDU is going through "the biggest crisis in its history." The formation, which on Sunday received a new blow in the regional elections in Hamburg, said, said Spahn, a candidacy capable of building bridges and sewing wounds in a few divided rows.

Merz has not wanted to be part of any team, encouraged by some surveys that give him some advantage. "Today we have an open career at the CDU," he announced to the press, and explained that it represents a "different direction" and that is why he has decided not to be part of an integrating candidacy. During his presentation, he criticized the initiative of his competitors sideways, considering that "in real life" they would be "talking about a cartel".

Merz has already competed for the presidency of the party when Kramp-Karrenbaueren was defeated by the minimum at the 2018 congress in Hamburg. Vice President of the Economy Commission of the CDU, Merz resigned in February to the direction of the Supervisory Board of BlackRock, the largest fund manager in the world, to focus on politics.

Where are the women?

The candidacies to preside over the German conservative party have several elements in common, such as the absence of representatives from the east of the country. But there is one that may stand out above all others. They are all men. This Tuesday, during the presentation in Berlin, it was one of the topics to which the candidates were forced to respond. Armin Laschet, considered that the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has and has had policies in the positions of greater responsibility of the party, including the chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the still president of the party and Minister of Defense, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. Even so, he acknowledged, "we need more women in positions of responsibility," specifically in Parliament. Friedrich Merz announced that if he wins, the general secretary of the party will be a woman, while Norbert Röttgen posted on Twitter that his number two will also be a woman.