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Armin Laschet presents the »Shadow Chancellor« - a biography about Markus Söder
Photo: Jörg Carstensen / dpa
North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet has pleaded that the Union should not determine its candidate for chancellor until mid-March, two months after the party chairman was elected.
The term of office of Chancellor Angela Merkel and a candidate for Union Chancellor should not overlap for too long, said Laschet.
“We have important state elections on March 14th.
From then on one should deal more closely with the thought «.
In Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, voting will take place on this day.
Laschet agreed with the opinion of CSU boss Markus Söder, Health Minister Jens Spahn and Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble.
They too had demanded that the candidate for chancellor should only be determined after the election of the new CDU chief.
Laschet cited the SPD as a negative example.
The Social Democrats nominated Olaf Scholz as candidate for chancellor much too early, according to Laschet.
In the election for the CDU chairmanship on January 16, he competes against Norbert Röttgen and Friedrich Merz.
If Laschet wins the election, the Union could have to decide between him and CSU leader Markus Söder as candidate for chancellor.
Laschet's appointment on Friday, when he presented a biography about Söder, was all the more unusual.
On this occasion Laschet praised the Bavarian Prime Minister, who was a "great communicator".
"Every Prime Minister who rules a large country can also be Federal Chancellor," said Laschet when asked whether he would trust Söder to be chancellor.
The Union will set up the one with which it is most likely to win the elections.
According to Laschet, this is not measured by surveys alone.
Söder is regularly in front of the three CDU politicians in surveys.
"If you aspire to the Chancellery, you should have ruled once"
Laschet denied his CDU competitors Merz and Röttgen the suitability for the candidacy for chancellor: “If you want to run for the chancellery, you should know how a ministerial vote happens, how a coalition works and, above all, how you win elections, ”said Laschet.
He suggested a procedure for the selection of the candidate for chancellor by the CDU and CSU: "Both praesidia together will make a proposal."
Laschet received support from his NRW interior minister Herbert Reul (CDU).
He feared that the CDU would lose its majority ability if Friedrich Merz were elected party chairman.
"It is not enough if the core force of the CDU applauds, but the voters no longer want us," Reul told the "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger".
»I fear that an election of Friedrich Merz as party chairman would drive the Green voters who have so far elected the Merkel CDU.
We can't be interested in that, ”said Reul.
Merz, meanwhile, commented on his personnel plans, should he become CDU chairman.
He wanted to hold on to Secretary General Paul Ziemiak, Merz told the German Press Agency.
“Replacing the party chairman and the general secretary a good eight months before the general election is far too great a risk.
You shouldn't do that unless you have to, ”says Merz.
He had initially announced that he wanted to have a woman as general secretary by his side.
Unlike his opponent Norbert Röttgen, Merz does not want to set up a separate team to provide support.
"I do not want parallel structures in the party, but my team is the elected federal executive," said Merz.
On Friday evening he informed CDU members about his plans in an internal online format.
Röttgen has announced that it will make the Rhineland-Palatinate member of the state parliament, Ellen Demuth, the chief strategist of a separate steering group.
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ptz / Reuters / dpa