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CDU politician Schulze
Photo: Ronny Hartmann / dpa
SPIEGEL:
Mr. Schulze, there will be elections in Saxony-Anhalt on June 6th.
Your party is grappling with the mask affair and dissatisfaction with corona policy.
Are you afraid of the federal trend in Magdeburg?
Schulze:
We're just getting headwind from Berlin.
This is not pleasant for us in the election campaign, but it is also not a new situation.
The last state election in Saxony-Anhalt was in 2016, when we discussed migration policy nationwide.
But with our top candidate Reiner Haseloff, we have someone who doesn't say yes and amen to everything that comes from Berlin.
SPIEGEL:
Your Thuringian colleague Mario Voigt would like support from Berlin in the election campaign, such as the Chancellor.
Do you also invite Angela Merkel?
Schulze:
Such considerations are superfluous because we cannot hold large events in the pandemic.
There are no appointments at all with prominent people from federal politics, because they are simply not possible.
"If you want to prevent red-red-green, you have to vote for the CDU"
SPIEGEL:
You were recently elected as the new party chairman of the regional association and you succeed Holger Stahlknecht, who lost his position as interior minister in the dispute over the direction.
Not a small part of your regional association would like to enter into an alliance of whatever kind with the AfD.
How do you feel about it?
Schulze:
There will be no cooperation with the AfD.
I made this clear in my inaugural speech as party chairman and was elected by almost 84 percent of the delegates.
The vote of my national association is therefore clear.
SPIEGEL:
Your predecessor Stahlknecht brought into play a minority government tolerated by the AfD ...
Schulze:
I don't want to talk about the AfD anymore.
The CDU is doing badly in the national polls.
I advise everyone in my party: Let us take a look at what we can do better in our politics.
I am not interested in other parties.
SPIEGEL:
If the CDU can continue to govern in Saxony-Anhalt, then you want your members to vote on the coalition.
Does that make a new edition of the Kenya coalition with the Greens and the SPD more difficult?
Schulze:
Of course, our members are dissatisfied with the Kenya coalition, but it works better than it is reputed to be.
Should it come to that again, we have to take the members with us better.
The SPD and Greens in Saxony-Anhalt tend towards the left.
If there is a red-red-green majority, they will use it.
If you want to prevent that, you have to vote for the CDU.
SPIEGEL:
The left in Saxony-Anhalt does not seem averse to tolerating a CDU government.
In Thuringia, the CDU is again supporting a red-red-green government.
Can you imagine working with the left?
Schulze:
No, we won't have a model like the one in Thuringia.
No cooperation whatsoever with the left or the AfD.
That's for sure.
SPIEGEL:
Which candidate for chancellor would be more useful to you in Saxony-Anhalt: Markus Söder or Armin Laschet?
Schulze:
I fully trust both of them to lead this country.
It is important to us to deal with the specific challenges facing East Germany.
Laschet had recently shown greater interest, and Markus Söder should do the same.
He is always invited to speak to us.
What is important now is a quick solution.
The longer the decision on the candidacy for chancellor is postponed, the more it will be taken out of their hands.
The K question needs to be clarified in the next two weeks.
We need quick clarity for the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt.
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CDU Prime Minister Haseloff
Photo: Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert / dpa
SPIEGEL:
There are hardly any women on the Saxony-Anhalt CDU state lists for federal and state elections.
What's wrong with you?
Schulze:
In fact, the situation in the state elections is better than it was five years ago.
We have many direct candidates in the constituencies.
The SPD and the Greens like to attack us on this issue.
I predict that our parliamentary group will have more women in the next state parliament than the SPD and the Greens.
Still, we have to do more.
SPIEGEL:
The post of general secretary would be vacant for a woman in Saxony-Anhalt.
Schulze:
This decision is far from being made, it will only be made after the state elections.
At this point I would like to remind you that Anna Kreye, a young woman from Saxony-Anhalt, was recently elected to the CDU federal executive committee.
We have very strong women with us in the national association.
SPIEGEL:
At the state party conference, it was surprisingly decided to separate mandate and government office in future, an unusual rule for the CDU.
Hasn't the dispute over the license fee already proven that the gap between parliamentary group and Prime Minister in Saxony-Anhalt is rather too big than too small?
Schulze:
That was an initiative application at our party congress that spontaneously found a majority.
There are now also objections to this decision, so I'll have to wait and see.
SPIEGEL: It was
actually said that Stahlknecht would be Haseloff's successor.
Now you have automatically slipped into the role of the Crown Prince.
So far, however, they lack experience in government.
Will you be minister in Haseloff's next cabinet if the majorities are enough?
Schulze:
Now it's about us winning the state elections and not about me.
This choice will have more radiance for the federal government than ever before.
We are the last election before the federal election and want to defend the State Chancellery, which has been run by the CDU for almost 20 years.
