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Friedrich Merz behind the "Team Röttgen" sign: There must be a few teasing on this day.
Photo: Federico Gambarini / dpa
The three candidates keep their distance, which is probably not only due to the corona virus.
Merz and Röttgen greet each other briefly, Merz and Laschet too, fist against fist.
Laschet and Röttgen avoid each other.
You don't talk to each other, but also not about each other.
"We are not opponents, we are competitors," says Norbert Röttgen.
The three gentlemen try to be gentlemen, but they can't help but dig a few swipes at their competitors in their speeches.
The Young Union of North Rhine-Westphalia held its NRW Day in Cologne and invited the candidates for the CDU chairmanship: Armin Laschet, Friedrich Merz and Norbert Röttgen.
All three come from North Rhine-Westphalia, the largest and most influential regional association of the CDU.
In the Gürzenich, a festival hall in the center of Cologne, they took to the stage one after the other on Saturday afternoon.
In front of a blue screen with an oversized compass on it, they campaigned, how fitting.
"The state government in North Rhine-Westphalia made up of the CDU and FDP is the most stable government we have in all of Germany," says Prime Minister Armin Laschet.
"Climate policy must become part of foreign policy," says foreign policy expert Norbert Röttgen.
"We need a better climate for the economy, the talk in schools about the supposedly bad economy in our country has to stop", says the economic liberal Friedrich Merz.
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The three candidates at a glance: Friedrich Merz, Norbert Röttgen, Armin Laschet
Photo: Fischer / dpa
The three candidates started the week together.
On Monday they met in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus in Berlin with Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who is still chairman, to discuss the timetable for the party conference in Stuttgart in December.
Then the three of them went their separate ways, a short weekly review of the candidates' deadlines is worthwhile.
The plans, the appearances of the trio could hardly have been more different, at least if you compare Laschet's schedule with that of Merz or Röttgen.
Merz appeared at the CDU Rems-Murr and at the CDU in Lüdenscheid, Röttgen was a video conference guest at the CDU Lichtenberg, he calls his foray through the district associations "Röttgen Rally".
20 percent are for Spahn, who doesn't even start
The Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia met on Tuesday with his cabinet, a draft of the trade tax equalization law was adopted, it is about funds of 2.7 billion euros.
At the Prime Minister's Conference, Laschet later negotiated with the Chancellor how the corona crisis would continue.
On Wednesday Laschet traveled to Rome, where he met the Italian Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte and the Pope.
Laschet doesn't do a rally, he governs, meets heads of state on the international stage.
There is something chancellor about his schedule, but that doesn't necessarily affect his chances in the candidate race.
In a current SPIEGEL survey, 36 percent of Union supporters spoke out in favor of Merz as CDU boss, and more than 20 percent are in favor of Jens Spahn, who does not even run.
In Laschet, not even ten percent see the new chairman.
The Prime Minister's Corona crisis management does not pay into his account.
Critics accuse him of being too hesitant and undecided.
From Laschet's environment it is said that he has now returned to a certain calm, including a little pride in having stuck to his course of making politics according to his own coordinate system in the crisis, even if it is not always popular.
Laschet is the first candidate on stage in the Gürzenich.
He talks about his trip to Italy, where one would "look closely" at what was happening in the CDU, he says.
"If we give up the political center," says Laschet, "the risk that red-red-green will be the chancellor is huge."
That is the directional decision that will be faced in the 2021 federal election.
"Do we want the left in Germany to participate in power? My answer is no."
The AfD, says Laschet, was recently able to press around five percent of the votes in the local elections in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Now he doesn't want to see her in the state parliament either.
"We can only do that," says Laschet, "if we explain our policy, if you know that we have carefully weighed everything up."
Laschet recalls the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2012, the CDU was "on the ground", Christian Democrats were "insulted in the street during the election campaign".
The CDU top candidate at the time was Norbert Röttgen, he lost the election crashing against Hannelore Kraft (SPD).
Röttgen sits in the back of the hall and listens to Laschet as he reminds of his election debacle.
Röttgen fans wear "Nobbi" T-shirts
But great love does not strike Laschet either.
It is telling that he gets the loudest applause when he speaks to Jens Spahn.
The Federal Minister of Health supports the NRW Prime Minister in the fight for the CDU chairmanship, the two compete as a team.
"We weren't always of one opinion," says Laschet, but that's "just the trick".
It was about integrating someone into his team that he could rub himself against.
Spahn stands "for a large group in the party," says Laschet.
The CDU will only win the federal election in 2021 if all currents in the party are taken into account.
Around two dozen JUers are sitting at the tables in Gürzenich, wearing T-shirts with the likeness of Röttgen.
The shirts are red-white-blue, Obama style.
"Nobbi" is written under the face of the politician, there are also stickers of the motif.
The Röttgen fans have also brought signs with "Party Chairman 2020" printed.
They are held up when Röttgen takes the stage.
While Laschet was just talking about the tire manufacturer Continental in Aachen, Röttgen prefers to surf through world politics.
He draws the big bow.
His speech is about the protests in Belarus, about "aggressive Russia", about Joe Biden and NATO.
"We can no longer say: What happens out there is none of our business," says Röttgen.
And: "We want to make our European contribution to making the world more peaceful again."
There is more riot at Merz
It is the same topic that Friedrich Merz broached.
"We have to step out of the niche in world politics," he says, "and look after our interests."
Whereby Merz is more geared towards riot than Röttgen and Laschet.
He shares against the Greens: "They are hedonistic, they describe a world that has little to do with the truth."
Against the FDP: "They no longer play a role, what a shame."
And also a bit against Laschet and his political style of bringing together different opinions: "We have to be clear in our statements and not look considerately at others."
There is also a bit of doom and gloom in Merz's speech: "We are falling further and further behind in the competition between the big tech companies," he says.
One has to "change something in the mindset" in Germany, it cannot be that more and more medium-sized companies cannot find a successor for the executive suite.
The zeitgeist, says Merz, is "a windy fellow" and the CDU is expected to be "adherent to principles".
"There has to be orientation somewhere," says Merz and lets us know exactly where it is: with him.
At the end, a small survey among the JUers: Which candidate did you find the best?
Merz was "in terms of content strong", there "nobody could hold a candle to him", one hears, but he had "sprayed too little energy".
Others say that Laschet made people want to see the future.
"It was important to me," says a woman from JU, "that it was a fair thing today and that they didn't wedge each other."
When Merz stands in front of the hall in Gürzenich, he approaches the Röttgen fan group.
The young politicians are still holding their signs.
"Listen," says Merz, "you can't read the writing on the signs."
The color contrast is not strong enough, on television and from a long distance nobody can see what is written there.
Merz gives Röttgen fans a few tips for merchandising.
There must be a few teasing on this day.
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