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Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder, behind him Armin Laschet
Photo: POOL / REUTERS
The CDU presidium meets on Monday, followed by the larger party executive.
Armin Laschet was relaxed the evening before: "I will be ready for candidacy tomorrow, like Markus Söder, and ask for trust," said the CDU boss on ARD.
There should be no resolution.
"But we will certainly get a picture of the position of the CDU, and then make recommendations for the further way," announced the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Many state chairmen and prime ministers of his party have already spoken out in favor of him.
Laschet is under pressure, he now needs the support of his party.
Because on Sunday, his rival Söder publicly said for the first time that he was ready to run (read more here).
Laschet, too, had declared his readiness at the parliamentary group's closed meeting.
The Bavarian Prime Minister is now apparently pushing for a quick solution to the power struggle: In ten days the CDU and CSU should have decided "at the latest" whether he or Laschet will run as candidate for Chancellor in the federal elections in the autumn.
"I think it is even possible this week to make a decision together," said Söder on ZDF.
Söder emphasized that both applicants had to work well together even after the decision in their offices: "One thing is clear, the two party leaders must work closely together even after this personal decision." He and Laschet "have to", we will work together in the end «.
The deputy CDU federal chairman Thomas Strobl assumes that the bodies of his party will come to a vote on the Union's candidacy for chancellor on Monday.
"The Presidium and the federal executive are now the right place to discuss and decide the position of the CDU on the candidacy for chancellor," said the Baden-Württemberg interior minister of the "Stuttgarter Zeitung" and the "Stuttgarter Nachrichten".
"Today I declared my willingness to run for office," Söder had come out of cover on Sunday.
The prerequisite, however, is that the CDU support this as a larger sister party.
“When the big sister says that's not her suggestion, she has another suggestion, then that's a clear signal for us too.
Then we would accept that too, ”said the Bavarian Prime Minister.
The CSU boss again referred to survey results that are significantly better for him than for Laschet.
It is about making a decision for the Union that will be supported by the breadth of the party and the population, added Söder.
The background to this is that the CSU boss is mainly rejected by the CDU top and by the prime minister, but according to surveys he has much more support in the Union and the CDU base.
If the CDU presidium should speak out clearly in favor of Laschet on Monday, then the candidacy for chancellor should not be taken away, it said on Sunday in the Union.
"We don't want a split at the end of the process," said Söder.
as / Reuters / dpa