The duel for the candidacy for chancellor between CDU leader Armin Laschet and his CSU counterpart Markus Söder put the union in front of an acid test in April.
Wolfgang Schäuble, President of the Bundestag and a fixture in the Union for decades, was also involved in the leadership dispute.
He mediated between the rivals from North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria.
Schäuble acted as moderator during the several-hour conversation on the night of April 18-19.
However, the mediation did not lead to a decision.
Söder stuck to his candidacy ambitions the day after, and only gave in later.
It remained unclear whether both sides had mutually agreed on Schäuble as moderator or whether he had only come at the request of the CDU.
The native of Freiburg was not independent: Schäuble had already supported Laschet for a long time.
Schäuble has now reported on his role in the power struggle.
"I got on well with Mr. Söder," said Schäuble in the SPIEGEL talk "Spitzentitel", where he spoke about his book "Borderline Experiences: How We Grow With Crises".
"We did not fall apart."
For him, the starting position was clear, said the 78-year-old: "If Markus Söder takes a step back, it will not harm him and the CSU." For Armin Laschet, however, according to Schäuble, this would not have been possible without further ado.
Rather, the CDU would have been significantly damaged, especially in North Rhine-Westphalia.
"For the common chances of the Union in the Bundestag election it is better this way around."
Wolfgang Schäuble on Armin Laschet's candidacy for chancellor
"For the common chances of the Union in the Bundestag election, it is better this way around," said Schäuble of Laschet's freestyle for candidate for chancellor.
This is also the case regardless of the fact that the surveys currently "say something different to a certain extent."
However, it is dangerous to only listen to the voices of the grassroots.
It is also questionable whether democracy “can only be based on momentary moods”.
Otherwise you end up where the Pirate Party is now, said Schäuble.
When asked whether Söder was not closer to him in terms of content, Schäuble did not want to get involved.
"You can ask Markus Söder whether he has read my book," said Schäuble.
He has not yet sent his work to the CSU boss.
"Of course he has to buy it," said Schäuble.
You can see the entire interview with Wolfgang Schäuble shortly on SPIEGEL.de.
"Top title" is the book show on SPIEGEL.de with SPIEGEL author and literary critic Volker Weidermann.
The talk for book lovers and followers of the cultivated discourse will be recorded in the studio of the SPIEGEL capital office in Berlin.
Volker Weidermann speaks to authors from home and abroad and critic Elke Heidenreich presents her reading recommendation as the top title of the week in each episode.
You can see all already published talks here.
häm / fek