Support for Steinmeier also from Union
Created: 01/05/2022Updated: 01/05/2022, 5:09 AM
Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been the Federal President of Germany since 2017.
© picture alliance / Ralf Hirschberger / dpa
The backing for Frank-Walter Steinmeier is growing.
He can probably remain Federal President for another five years - and also count on votes from the Union in the Federal Assembly.
Berlin - Around six weeks before the Federal Assembly there is widespread support for a second term in office for Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
After the coalition parties SPD, FDP and Greens have decided on the former foreign minister, there are also signs of support in the ranks of the Union. According to information from the German Press Agency from party circles, the tenor in the CDU leadership is that there is satisfaction with the administration. Steinmeier will be 66 years old this Wednesday. He has been Federal President since 2017.
The leaders of the CDU and CSU want to discuss how to proceed today.
A joint video conference between the party headquarters is scheduled for 9 a.m.
At 11 a.m., the party leaders Armin Laschet and Markus Söder want to comment.
The Union has so far left it open whether it wants to send its own candidate into the race against Steinmeier.
On February 13, the Federal Assembly will decide on the head of state for the next five years.
Wüst: "Office deserves respect"
The CDU / CSU recently said that many could well imagine Steinmeier's further term in office.
On Tuesday, the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) also stood behind the politician from the ranks of the SPD.
“The office of Federal President deserves respect.
Out of this state political responsibility, I will personally support Frank-Walter Steinmeier for a second term of office, ”said Wüst to the newspapers of the Funke media group and the editorial network Germany.
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In December, Wüst had called for the Union to run with its own candidate.
Now the NRW head of government said: "I have always made it clear that there can be no candidacy without the prospect of a majority - that would only damage the desire for more women in the highest state offices after Angela Merkel said goodbye."
Support from the Greens
After the SPD and FDP, the Greens also voted for Steinmeier's re-election on Tuesday.
According to research by the German Press Agency, the SPD, Greens and FDP will together make up 776 of the 1,472 members of the Federal Assembly.
That is 39 more than are required in the first and second ballot if, according to Article 54 of the Basic Law, an absolute majority is required.
The chairman of the Junge Union, Tilman Kuban, called for better cooperation between the CDU and CSU.
He told the "Rheinische Post" that the first-year conversation between Söder and the designated CDU chairman Friedrich Merz was a correct and important signal of unity.
"But a swallow doesn't make a summer." Dpa
