The outgoing CDU leader does not rule out a postponement of the party congress planned for December in view of the Corona crisis. A successor candidate sees it completely differently.
Berlin (dpa) - According to the outgoing party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the CDU has contemplated an emergency plan for the party congress in December.
"Because of Corona we are planning to shorten the party congress. It could even be that we limit the party congress to pure board elections due to the Corona situation," said the defense minister of "Welt am Sonntag". She pointed out that the statutes require physical attendance at a party conference. "In the worst case of a second major wave of pandemics, the executive board will remain in office until the party conference can be called."
The CDU wants to elect a new chairman at a party conference in Stuttgart at the beginning of December. The most promising candidates are North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet, the former Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz and the foreign politician Norbert Röttgen. The special party conference originally planned for the end of April to elect a new chairman had already been canceled due to the Corona crisis.
A four-day party congress was supposed to take place in Stuttgart, at which the 1001 delegates should also discuss the new basic program. Because of the Corona crisis, the party leadership has long been considering how this could be more "compact". The decision is to be made at the board meeting on September 14th.
Kramp-Karrenbauer thinks it is urgent to pass at least one quota regulation for more women on management levels in December. "It would be an important signal if we made a decision here at the party congress," she told "Welt am Sonntag".
Regarding the discussion of whether CSU boss Markus Söder could be a suitable candidate for chancellor of the Union, Kramp-Karrenbauer said: "Markus Söder is an excellent Bavarian Prime Minister and a very good CSU boss." As such, he knows that the person who becomes the CDU chairman also has the right to become the Union's candidate for chancellor.
Röttgen called for clarification on party leadership and candidate for chancellor by the end of the year. "Another postponement of the party congress would be fatal and a completely wrong signal," he told "Spiegel". "The Union must have clarified all personnel issues by the end of the year, including the candidacy for chancellor. We need a newly legitimized leadership at the top of the Union and clarity for the voters at the beginning of the 2021 election year." Söder recently stated that he could only imagine the nomination of the candidate for chancellor in March 2021.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 200823-99-270985 / 2
