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The delegates in Stuttgart will not be allowed to come as close as at the CDU federal party conference in Leipzig in December 2019 - if the meeting takes place at all
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / DPA
For now they are all happy in the CDU.
The party congress in December seems to have been saved, and with it the election of the new chairman.
Only a few more months - then there should finally be clarity of personnel.
At least that's the current plan.
But actually only one thing is clear after this Monday: The CDU has decided to put your head through the wall.
Because the decision of the federal executive committee, which CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak presented at noon, is a kind of bet on the corona pandemic.
And a pretty steep one: The plan to hold on to the party congress in Stuttgart at the beginning of December, albeit shortened to one day and reduced in terms of personnel as much as possible, will only work if the infection situation allows it.
In other words: As of now, the shrink party conference can take place - otherwise not.
Or to say it with General Secretary Ziemiak: "Then that is no longer my decision-making authority."
The schedule foresees the following for December 4th between 8.30 a.m. and 5 p.m. in Hall 1 of the Stuttgart Trade Fair: V
Farewell to the outgoing chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer,
Pronunciation,
Elections,
The End.
There will be no content-related debates; the new basic program is to be discussed at the next possible regular party congress, as are any changes to the statutes, such as the planned quota for women.
No greetings, no cozy evening for the 1001 delegates, there will be just as few guests at the party congress as there will be exhibitors.
For journalists, the event is to be broadcast in an adjoining hall.
And yet around 1500 people will be in one room if you count the security staff, technicians, camera and sound people among the delegates.
Can that be justified as the Chancellor's party, which has followed a policy of caution since the beginning of the pandemic?
Angela Merkel is worried about a second wave, just like her CDU health minister Jens Spahn.
Apparently you can.
Neither Merkel nor Spahn contradicts in the presidium - the closest CDU leadership group - on Monday morning the concept that General Secretary Ziemiak and Federal Managing Director Stefan Hennewig worked out.
It just has to work out with the party congress.
Above all, of course, the three candidates for the party chairmanship want that: The CDU vice and North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Armin Laschet, the former Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz and the foreign politician Norbert Röttgen - they finally want the decision on the successor to Kramp-Karrenbauer, the in fact, the decision should have been made at a party congress in April.
The CDU finally wants personal clarity
But otherwise the mood in the party is such that one finally wants to have clarity about the future personnel line-up.
Another postponement of the election would almost paralyze the CDU - and no one wants that in view of the upcoming federal election in September.
In addition to the party chairmanship, there is also the question of who will lead the Union into the election campaign as a candidate for chancellor, CSU leader Markus Söder may already be ready for this.
But first a new CDU boss has to be elected.
In particular, the candidate Friedrich Merz relies on a presence party congress where he can impress the delegates in the hall with his speech.
Merz needs the force of the immediate appearance.
For Armin Laschet, his fiercest competitor, that is less true.
Laschet is not as powerful a speaker as Merz, his strategy is more likely to be to organize the necessary delegate votes in advance.
On paper he is the favorite because Laschet, as head of the NRW-CDU, chairs by far the largest regional association, he is an explicit middle candidate and should have the Women's Union as an ally.
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CDU politician Laschet, Merkel: The man from Düsseldorf wants to become party leader - and inherit the chancellor
Photo: Odd Andersen / AFP
In addition, Laschet is likely to unite with the popular Health Minister Spahn, who supports his candidacy, voices from the Junge Union and from more conservative delegates.
All the more, Merz has to score points at the party congress in his speech - if you let him.
So that the party congress in Stuttgart can also take place under Corona conditions, every effort is made with the planning in the CDU headquarters: fever is measured at the entrance, predetermined routes, a distance of 1.50 meters between the delegate seats Electronic ID that signals when you get too close to another person.
The hygiene and precautionary measures planned by the CDU headquarters are high.
The CDU also has a replacement location for the party congress
In addition, the strategists in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus have an option for a second event location in Germany in the event that the pandemic situation in the Stuttgart region should worsen significantly.
The location is not yet known.
But even that would not help if the numbers go up again across Germany and the feared second wave strikes.
In this case, there is only one hope, which nobody in the CDU really wants to talk about at the moment: If the party law is modified in the course of the amendment to the federal electoral law in the coming weeks as the Union parliamentary group wishes, the CDU could Hold the party congress at least digitally, only the election processes would have to be analogue.
But this type of hybrid party conference would be a bet on the future because the legal requirements are not yet in place.
For the time being, therefore, the decision of the federal executive committee on Monday applies.
Great, the corona bet applies.
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