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CDU presence party conference in December should not take place

2020-10-25T21:23:57.698Z


At a CDU party conference in December, the question of the candidate for chancellor hangs. Discussions about holding or postponing the event have now ended - and the planned date is off the table.


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Differences of opinion about the implementation of the party congress in December: possible CDU chancellor candidates Norbert Röttgen, Armin Laschet, Friedrich Merz (from left)

Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa

The CDU does not want to have its party congress planned for December 4th in attendance.

This was confirmed to SPIEGEL from party circles.

The dpa news agency had previously reported that the presence party conference for the election of a new party chairman was off the table.

The party leadership had ended its deliberations with the possible chancellor candidates Armin Laschet, Friedrich Merz and Norbert Röttgen on Sunday evening after five hours of talks.

Apparently a framework for the further procedure was discussed.

Party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer wants to present the plan to the CDU bodies on Monday.

Details were not initially known.

The party congress cannot take place as planned due to the worsening corona pandemic.

During the consultations, it should be clarified which alternative implementations could be considered in view of the drastically increasing numbers of corona infections.

Merz spoke out against postponement

The candidate for the CDU chairmanship, Friedrich Merz, had last rejected the demand of his rival Armin Laschet to postpone the planned federal party conference in early December.

"According to the party law and its own statutes, the CDU is obliged to elect a new party executive this year," Merz told the newspapers of the Funke media group.

"This election must take place, even if a party congress at a location with 1001 delegates is currently not possible."

Merz admitted that the corona pandemic is also restricting life for parties.

"But we do not have a state of emergency, and that is why our country's political institutions must remain operational," emphasized Merz.

"This applies to parliament as well as to the political parties."

Laschet had told "Welt am Sonntag" that the party congress was not absolutely necessary at the moment, and that all issues could be decided after the winter.

Combating the pandemic has priority, and larger party events are not possible and cannot be mediated.

"We have a good hygiene concept"

For days there has been a debate in the Union about whether the party congress can still take place because of the soaring corona numbers.

A decentralized party congress in several places at the same time was also under discussion.

Laschet's demand for a postponement had met with considerable resistance from other party members as well.

"How long should we wait", asked Federal Board member Elisabeth Motschmann.

"The problem will remain with us for a while," she said, with a view to the fact that the pandemic situation is likely to be difficult in early 2021 as well.

The chairman of the Communal Political Association of the Union (KPV), Christian Haase, and parliamentary deputy Johann Wadephul also rejected Laschet's initiative.

"I think we have a good hygiene concept so that the party conference should be held," said Federal Board member Haase.

Other prominent Union politicians spoke out against it for a transfer.

According to information from the dpa news agency, the deputy party chairman Volker Bouffier pleaded for the party conference to be postponed until next year.

Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU), whose word is still very important in the party, had, according to earlier information from the news portal "The Pioneer", also called for a postponement.

Union faction leader Brinkhaus also told "Welt am Sonntag" that as long as the number of new infections continued to rise at a high level, a party congress was out of the question.

Icon: The mirror

fek / dpa / Reuters

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2020-10-25

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