The current head of the Chancellery, Helge Braun, sees himself in the race for the CDU chairmanship at an advantage over his rivals Friedrich Merz and Norbert Röttgen and justifies this with his deep roots in the party.
Berlin - "I have been the district chairman in Hesse for 18 years. This experience will now be crucial in order to heal the break between leadership and the grassroots," Braun told the new issue of "Spiegel" magazine.
"There is a lot of support for my position and my ideas for reforming the CDU," he said.
In the competition with Merz and Röttgen, he also wanted to score with the promise to establish a new leadership culture in the party.
"The CDU needs a fundamental new beginning - in terms of content, organization and style."
Braun contradicted the impression that he was the representative of the outgoing Chancellor's camp.
"I'm Helge Braun and I've learned a lot from Angela Merkel," said the CDU politician.
The Union can be proud of the past 16 years in government, but now "a new era" begins.
The CDU must "completely reposition itself in its party work and in the opposition."
The three applicants for the CDU chairmanship will introduce themselves to the party base from next week.
Merz kicks off in a video slot on Monday evening.
This is followed by Röttgen on Wednesday and Braun on Thursday.
On December 1st, all three will then answer questions from the CDU members together.
After the historically poor result in the federal election, the CDU wants to have its new party chairman determined for the first time by its currently around 400,000 members.
After the vote of the base, Armin Laschet's successor is to be formally elected at a party congress on January 21st and 22nd in Hanover.
The application deadline for the top position expired on Wednesday.
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