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Logo of the CDU
Photo: Christian Charisius / picture alliance / dpa
No, the CDU still does not have a new chairman.
And this situation will last at least until December 4th, when, according to current plans, 1001 delegates will come together at the federal party congress in Stuttgart to elect Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer's successor.
This Monday, Kramp-Karrenbauer first meets with the three gentlemen who want to inherit it: Armin Laschet, party vice and North Rhine-Westphalian prime minister, the former Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz and the member of the Bundestag and foreign politician Norbert Röttgen.
In the CDU headquarters they want to discuss the timetable by the party congress.
It should not be "a ruinous competition", stressed the still-chairwoman last worryingly.
It feels like Kramp-Karrenbauer has been a chairwoman on call for ages after she announced her departure in February.
At the latest since the new election planned in April was canceled because the corresponding federal party congress was canceled due to Corona, time seems to have stood still in terms of CDU chief posts.
The situation among the successor candidates is still the same as in the spring: Laschet and Merz are running with the clear goal of becoming chancellor candidate in the federal elections in the next step and thus taking on the legacy of the outgoing Angela Merkel in the next but one.
However, the initial situation has changed: During the corona crisis, the Union parties improved their survey values by up to 15 percentage points, which means that a CDU chairman and thus a virtual candidate for chancellor should almost see himself as the goal of his dreams.
If only it weren't for CSU boss Markus Söder, who, as Bavarian Prime Minister, has grown so much in stature in the fight against the virus that he has to be taken very seriously in the race for chancellor candidate.
Only: What if this CDU party congress cannot take place in the end because of Corona?
Then Germany would have a real pandemic problem - and the CDU would have a leadership problem.
The overview:
What will happen in the coming weeks?
When the current chairman receives Armin Laschet, Friedrich Merz and Norbert Röttgen in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus on Monday afternoon, organizational questions on the way to and on the party congress itself should be discussed.
But Kramp-Karrenbauer apparently wants to talk into the conscience of the three candidates again.
It is in the nature of things that the election campaign gets dirtier the closer the decision gets.
But gentlemen shouldn't overdo it.
This is a concern that worries a lot in the party.
And then there are the technical questions to be clarified: How long, for example, are the candidates allowed to speak at the party congress, which has been shortened to one day anyway?
And until then?
It is quite likely that on Monday they will agree on joint appearances in front of cameras in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus, which party members can watch from home on the computer.
Regional conferences distributed across the country, such as 2018 between Kramp-Karrenbauer, Merz and Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn in the race to succeed Angela Merkel as CDU leader, are excluded due to Corona.
Instead, the candidates should present themselves digitally.
Members can then submit questions to the three applicants from the screen.
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Candidate Röttgen wants to debate with his competitors on ARD
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / picture alliance / dpa
It remains to be seen whether the candidates will meet in one or more public debates on television.
There is a specific request for a "Triell" after SPIEGEL information from ARD.
The outsider candidate Röttgen is particularly interested in this because it would enhance him.
The desire to do this is correspondingly less pronounced among his competitors.
Each of the three Christian Democrats will also have their own individual election campaign until December: appearances in front of the CDU base, as far as Corona allows, plus interviews and other high-profile formats.
The candidates will also take care of the conversation with the delegates at the federal party congress - every vote could count in the end.
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Laschet is traveling to the Pope this week
Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd / picture alliance / dpa
And each of them should try to distinguish themselves in their own way.
The fact that Armin Laschet will meet the Pope in the Vatican this week naturally fits into the agenda of a Catholic Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia - but photos and reports from his meeting with Francis should also suit him as a CDU chief applicant.
Merz, currently without a political office, has a harder time in this regard.
He mainly relies on public speaking appearances.
In the past few weeks, candidate Röttgen has benefited from the fact that foreign policy issues were booming and that his statements, especially those that were particularly acute, were particularly prevalent.
Is there a favorite?
On paper, the matter seems to be clear: Laschet is head of the North Rhine-Westphalian CDU, the state association with the largest number of members, he has allied himself with Jens Spahn, who is also popular among young Christian Democrats, and also enjoys the support of the Women's Union.
However, Laschet's public image was damaged, especially in the first weeks of the corona crisis, because he acted unhappily and made a bad communication.
Enthusiasm for the candidate Laschet has so far not even appeared among his supporters.
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Merz relies on his speaking power
Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd / picture alliance / dpa
In surveys, he is therefore well behind challenger Merz.
But can he therefore rely on the majority of the delegate votes?
Certainly not.
Merz is someone who is able to inspire his listeners, but he also polarizes much more than Laschet.
That was evident at the beginning of the week when Merz first made misleading statements about the proximity of homosexuality and pedophilia in a conversation with "Bild" and then even turned the workers' wing of his party against him, because he warned that people might get along at times Get used to not working from Corona.
In the end, it could be tight between Laschet and Merz, a decision should only be made in the second ballot.
The CDU has agreed that Röttgen will not play a role in the race for chairmanship.
What does that have to do with Markus Söder?
The closer the result for Laschet or Merz, the louder the debates about a man who is not there at the party congress are likely to be: CSU boss Söder already consider some Christian Democrats to be the most suitable candidate for chancellor.
Compared to a newly elected CDU leader who does not have broad support in the party, the number of his advocates could grow.
Only: It is still unclear whether Söder even wants to enter the race for the Chancellery for the Union.
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CSU boss Söder with Chancellor Merkel
Photo: Bernd von Jutrczenka / DPA
So far, he has fended off relevant questions with variants of the statement that his place is in Bavaria.
At the same time, Söder, who is as ambitious as he is power-conscious, can hardly hide how flattering the role of virtual candidate for chancellor is.
With Franz Josef Strauss and Edmund Stoiber, only two CSU politicians have led the Union parties in a federal election, both times without success.
In view of the party polls and his personal popularity figures, the temptation for Söder is all the greater: The Chancellery seems to be within reach for him.
However, with a chancellor from its own ranks, the CSU would have to fundamentally change its policy model in the federal government and in Bavaria, an adequate successor as prime minister is not in sight, and from the perspective of the CDU, Söder would still only be the head of the small sister party in terms of federal politics.
And what about Jens Spahn?
Health Minister Jens Spahn has gained public reputation in the fight against Corona in recent months, but he should not play a role in the race for the CDU chairmanship.
Speculations that he could terminate the alliance with Laschet or swap roles with Laschet in order to compete at the party congress himself have not been confirmed in recent weeks.
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Health Minister Spahn
Photo: Jens Schicke / imago images / Jens Schicke
Spahn also enjoys a lot of support in the CSU, there you could even imagine the health minister as a candidate for chancellor, but this constellation seems to be practically impossible.
How safe is the party congress?
As of today, the party conference can take place in December.
The CDU headquarters has developed a sophisticated hygiene concept that enables 1001 delegates to come together.
The event, which is reduced to one day, will take place without guests, journalists can only follow the action via broadcast from a neighboring hall.
Anyone attending the party convention will have a fever measured at the entrances and will be notified via an electronic badge as soon as he or she gets too close to others.
At the same time, the CDU will reserve premises at another location if the pandemic situation in Stuttgart makes the party congress impossible.
But if the virus makes this impossible everywhere in Germany in December, then there will be no new CDU chairman at that time.
Unless by then the party law would be changed in such a way that this could also be achieved via a digital party congress.
But that too is highly uncertain.
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