The new chairman of the Union of Values, Max Otte, had recently attacked his party colleague Friedrich Merz sharply.
Now this and other CDU politicians have reacted to the verbal attack.
Berlin - Top representatives of the CDU have reacted with satisfaction to the tendency to split in the ultra-conservative values union.
“I think we shouldn't pay more attention to what it's worth. And after everything I can see, they are currently dismantling themselves, "said the Hessian Prime Minister and CDU Vice-President Volker Bouffier on Monday when he arrived at the last regular consultations between the CDU leadership and party leader Armin Laschet before the summer break. The Union of Values is grossly overrated. He joined the demand of the ex-Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz, who had urged CDU members to leave the Union of Values.
Presidium member Karl-Josef Laumann said: "The values of the Union of Values simply do not fit the CDU." It is good to "make it very clear that the Union has nothing to do with the Union of Values".
Apparently one cannot forbid the grouping to call itself a Union.
“But it has nothing to do with the CDU.
Period. "
The CDU economic politician and Bundestag candidate Merz had told the German Press Agency: "I call on all CDU members to leave the so-called Union of Values and to shape the future together in the CDU."
The Values Union sees itself as a representative of the conservative current in the Union, but is not an official party division.
According to its own information, its membership is over 4,000 - including members without a CDU party book.
The CDU has a total of around 400,000 members, the CSU has around 140,000.
Resignation of individual members
After the controversial election of the economist Max Otte as chairman, the values union shows ever stronger signs of disintegration.
Members of various state boards resigned in protest against Otte's course.
Internal critics accuse Otte of moving the Union of Values to the right and wanting to open up to the AfD.
The former chairman of the Values Union, Alexander Mitsch, has left the group of particularly conservative CDU members. The reason is the behavior of the new head of the Value Union, Max Otte. "The envelopes from Mr. Otte led to my resignation," Mitsch told the German Press Agency in Stuttgart on Monday. "Mr. Otte is not in a position to continue the original idea of the Union of Values." The Union of Values has always been intended as a strong group within the Union that sets itself apart from the right and left fringes.
The Heidelberger Mitsch was one of the founding fathers of the Union of Values and had headed it for four years.
He can imagine that he will join a new platform where members of the Union of Values who have resigned could come together.
“That may well be a possibility.” The founding idea of dissuading the Union from its left-wing course is still correct.
Mitsch criticizes successor Otte
Mitsch attacked his successor for his statements about the CDU economic expert Friedrich Merz.
Otte had said at the weekend that Merz was burdened by his previous lobbying activities and should "not take over a state office, even if the lobbying activity is suspended".
Mitsch replied that this was "simply unacceptable".
It is clear: "Otte is not expressing a majority opinion of the Union of Values here." Under Mitschs' leadership, the Union of Values had campaigned for Merz to become the Union's candidate for chancellor.
Otte "apparently doesn't know the difference between lobbying and professional activity as a lawyer and supervisory board," Merz had previously said.
dpa
