Two CDU ministers from Saarland are renouncing their parliamentary mandate.
You want to step aside for younger party friends.
The announcement is connected with appeals to one's own party.
Saarbrücken - Federal Economics Minister Peter Altmaier and Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (both CDU) will not sit in the newly elected Bundestag.
Both announced on Saturday in Saarbrücken that they would waive their mandate.
This clears the way for Nadine Schön and Markus Uhl, who will then join the Bundestag as successors from the CDU state list.
The SPD won all four direct mandates in the federal election on September 26th in Saarland.
At the same time, Altmaier appealed to his own party: "We now also need the repositioning at the federal level, which can and must send a strong signal of change." That will only succeed if you listen more closely to the party than before.
The CDU must now make it clear that it has an offer for all voters beyond political extremes.
It is important to bring about a generation change now, said Altmaier.
“Renewal is possible, you just have to want it,” he added.
Kramp-Karrenbauer said it was not enough just to say that the country and the party were more important than one's own political career.
Now is a situation "where you have to do it".
The former CDU federal chairman Kramp-Karrenbauer (59) was elected to the Bundestag via the top spot on the state list.
Altmaier (63) started in second place.
By renouncing the mandate, they are making room for the two younger party friends in the Union parliamentary group: Nadine Schön is 38 years old and has been a member of the Bundestag since 2009.
Markus Uhl (41) was elected to the Bundestag for the first time in 2017.
According to their own statements, both learned the decision on Saturday morning at a meeting led by CDU country chief and Prime Minister Tobias Hans - almost two weeks after the election debacle of the Union, which meant the end for many members of the CDU and CSU.
The crash was particularly bitter for Schön, as she, as a recognized digital politician, could have even calculated her chances of getting a place in the cabinet in the event of an election victory.
Had a Chancellor Armin Laschet actually set up a digital ministry as announced, Schön would have been shortlisted.
The Saarland native is co-head of the CDU's digitization network and one of the leading figures behind the “Neustaat” project, which describes a strategy for the fundamental modernization and digitization of the state and its administration.
Uhl is considered a household expert.
Before that, the graduate in business administration from Homburg / Saar worked in the Saarland State Chancellery from 2012 to 2017, most recently as head of department.
The Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans praises the 41-year-old as a “housekeeper who brought things into the country for us that would otherwise not have been possible”.
On Saturday, the Prime Minister praised the two Ministers Altmeier and Kramp-Karrenbauer for resigning their mandate.
With a view to the ongoing exploratory talks between the SPD, FDP and the Greens to form a “traffic light” coalition, he said, even if other constellations were conceivable, “the signs are on the traffic light”.
You have to accept that now and take on the role of the opposition.
Peter Altmaier has been a member of the Bundestag since 1994.
Kramp-Karrenbauer was Prime Minister of Saarland until she moved to Berlin as CDU General Secretary in 2018.
In December 2018, she was elected CDU chairman with a tight result in a vote against the former Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz.
In February 2020 she announced her resignation as a consequence of the government crisis in Thuringia.
Her successor at the head of the party was NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet.
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Federal election 2021: Kramp-Karrenbauer conceded defeat
Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) did not get a direct mandate in the 2021 federal election in Saarland.
Federal election 2021: Kramp-Karrenbauer conceded defeat
Kutschaty wants Laschet to step down as head of the country immediately
After the CDU's defeat in the federal election, the North Rhine-Westphalian SPD party leader Thomas Kutschaty is calling for Prime Minister Armin Laschet to resign.
"One cannot expect anything more from this Prime Minister in the next few weeks," said the SPD politician on Monday in Düsseldorf.
From this "catastrophic election defeat" Laschet should draw the conclusion "and now give back his office immediately".
Kutschaty wants Laschet to step down as head of the country immediately
According to their own statements, Altmaier and Kramp-Karrenbauer will keep their ministerial posts until a new federal government is formed.
dpa
