Söder?
Laschet?
The CDU has now probably decided.
But the Chancellor Freestyle could be expensive for the Union.
And at the end of the day, the fish must like the bait.
Berlin / Munich - It could be the lackluster end of a bitter and self-destructive power struggle: On Tuesday night, the CDU * - after an excruciatingly long week not only for the Union - stood behind Armin Laschet as candidate for chancellor.
But what is actually like being staged and celebrated pompously by parties, tends to cause new worries in the crisis union in April 2021.
Because despite the - in the end clear - vote of the CDU leadership in secret ballot and despite the announced placet by Laschet's rival Markus Söder * and the CSU, the deeply insecure CDU is always afraid of an unwanted reaction from the party base.
Union in the Chancellor's dispute: Laschet apparently wins against Söder - but at what price?
Apart from the media echo, the first test for the winner without shine awaits on this Tuesday afternoon.
Because then the next meeting of the Union parliamentary group is due, the group of CDU and CSU members of the Bundestag who a week ago put Laschet under real pressure with their majority pro-Söder opinion.
In any case, after more than six hours of deliberations, the CDU federal executive stood behind its own party chairman Armin Laschet *.
After CSU boss Söder had previously placed the decision on the candidacy solely in the hands of the big sister party, the K question is actually decided - even if Söder did not comment that night.
But at what price does this victory come for Laschet?
Laschet before candidate for chancellor - after a week that goes down in history as a chilling example
After this week of crisis, which will probably go down in the history books of the CDU and CSU as a chilling example, the damage cannot yet be foreseen. A deep rift runs across the Union. Five months before the general election, the much-invoked unity is long over, the rifts are deeper than they have been since the dispute over asylum policy. How should a joint election campaign and recapture of the Chancellery succeed? And that with a candidate who in the end is supported by the majority of its own board of directors, but who ultimately opposed not only the CSU, but also large parts of its own CDU base.
"The bait has to taste good to the fish, not to the angler," said Green veteran Jürgen Trittin on Monday evening on the Phoenix broadcaster.
Judging by the polls, the voters of Laschet do not (yet) feel particularly lured.
In any case, the power struggle culminates in the CDU board meeting in the evening with the grand finale Furioso.
These are probably the most crucial hours in Laschet's career to date.
And he rams in stakes straight away: “It's about the best answers to the pressing questions of the future.
And I'm ready to run for us, ”says the party leader.
And makes it clear: He wants the decision here and now.
A debate ensues that is likely to burn itself into the collective memory of the CDU.
Dozens of board members speak out.
Some speak out clearly in favor of Laschet.
Others report a picture of the mood per Söder at the grassroots level.
Some Söder supporters are calling for a vote in the Union parliamentary group or for a district chairperson conference to decide.
Laschet and others refuse.
Chancellor vote like a vote of confidence: Laschet maneuvers the CDU board into a breakdown vote
So it goes back and forth hour after hour.
East German CDU politicians engage in a controversial debate about the mood in their countries.
CDU Vice Thomas Strobl speaks out in favor of Laschet, saying that he is not a splitter, but someone who integrates.
For a long time it is unclear whether the vote will ultimately take place. And how all those officials who are personally for Laschet, but whose associations have a clear preference for Söder, will vote in the end. Laschet is obviously betting everything on one card: on the fact that the board would damage him again not a few months after his election. Söderians in the CDU therefore criticized even before the board meeting that Laschet would take the party hostage if he would force them to vote for him and not for Söder.
In fact, the vote on the K question must also be seen as a vote of confidence by the party over its own boss.
In the end there is actually a vote, with technical suspicions debated in public, but in secret.
First result: The board wants the decision immediately, no district chairman conference beforehand.
Then the vote: 31 board members vote for Laschet, 9 for Söder, 6 abstentions.
Turbulent Chancellor decision: Night summit without result - the Greens finish first
The decisive meeting of the CDU board on Monday evening had been preceded by a dramatic 24 hours - in Berlin and Munich.
First high point: A night summit of the two rivals in the Bundestag building, which comes to an end without an agreement.
Söder even flew specially to the capital - at party expense.
In the morning, while the Union is publicly tearing itself apart, so to speak, the CDU and CSU must watch as the Greens, in demonstrative harmony, Annalena Baerbock is chosen as their candidate for Chancellor.
The contrasts on Monday couldn't be more blatant.
Laschet's offensive crowned with success?
Wild CDU night actually starts at 1 p.m.
Shortly after 1 p.m. Laschet went on the offensive and announced that the CDU board would switch to the evening.
At the same time, the CSU Presidium is already advising in Munich.
There Söder rings in the last round: He gives the decision on the K question back to the CDU.
The CDU is now making “sovereign” decisions, says Söder and promises several times: “We as the CSU and I also respect every decision.”
As a reminder: Exactly a week earlier, the CDU bodies had already met behind Laschet - unanimously, as it was called, but (as agreed between Laschet and Söder) without a formal resolution. Söder replied that this was "not yet final". As a result, the choir of supporters for survey favorite Söder grew in the parliamentary group and also at the CDU base. On Sunday, the majority of the national associations of the Junge Union also advocate Söder.
On Monday afternoon, however, Söder made it clear: Although he still wants to be a candidate for chancellor, his offer has been made.
But because he and the CSU do not have it in their own hands, he is now playing the ball to the big sister party.
With this move of handing over responsibility to Laschet and the CDU alone, he ultimately creates the best possible, face-saving exit option for himself.
He doesn't have to give in on his own initiative, he would then simply submit to the vote of the big sister party.
And could then, if the federal elections go wrong, argue according to the motto: I would have wanted - but you did not let me.
Bundestag election with a “paralyzed” Union?
Laschet faces a Herculean task
Once again, Laschet endured a fight tenaciously and persistently to the end - and won. But he had no other choice, as not only party leader Wolfgang Schäuble reportedly warned internally *. But the mortgage Laschet is taking in the coming months is enormous. Because even if Söder tries to downplay possible damage to the Union from the personal drama, the CDU and CSU are in an extremely difficult situation, party members describe them as "paralyzed". How does Laschet now intend to rally the doubters and the critics behind him on his own base? And first the CSU?
The lip service of Laschet and Söder that they will stand firmly together in the election campaign also seem almost like mockery for some in the Union: the mutual accusations and the apparently poorly prepared procedure * up to the last vote should be remembered by some voters. And Laschet is now faced with the Herculean task of defending the Chancellery after Angela Merkel's 16-year term in office. (
dpa / fn
) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
