CDU party conference: Merz attacks Chancellor Scholz in opening speech – “People are afraid”

Created: 2022-01-22Updated: 2022-01-22, 12:01 p.m

By: Momir Takac

Friedrich Merz is already designated party leader.

He is to be elected the new chairman at a party conference on Saturday.

He sees the CDU facing a difficult task.

• At the digital party conference, Friedrich Merz is to be elected the new party leader of the CDU

  (see first report)

  .

• According to a survey, the Germans are skeptical that the future CDU leader Friedrich Merz can reunite the Union after the clashes with the CSU

  (see update from January 22, 7.30 a.m.)

  .

• In his last speech as CDU party leader, Armin Laschet* talks about the failed federal election in September

  (see update from January 22, 10:25 a.m.)

  .

• This news ticker is updated regularly.

Update from January 22nd, 12:00 p.m.:

The ballot has started. After the disaster in the federal election, the designated CDU chairman Friedrich Merz called on his party to unite and to make a powerful move in the opposition. The party conference sent a "powerful signal of departure and renewal of the CDU," said Merz on Saturday in Berlin before his election at the online party conference of the CDU. "We haven't lost our self-confidence." Precisely because of the new traffic light government, Germany has a right to a union "that continues to serve the country, provides answers to the pressing questions of our time" and which, as the opposition, initially has a claim on itself imagine being the government of tomorrow again

"Let's not fool ourselves: it can be a long way until then," Merz warned the Union at the same time.

"How long the road will really be is not solely up to us, but also up to us," he added.

"If we argue, if we diverge in all directions, if we give an unclear picture, if we are not up to date on the issues, then it may take a very long time.

And even then it is not said that it will succeed at all. ”Now the CDU must quickly take hold.

CDU party conference: Merz attacks Chancellor Scholz in opening speech – “People are afraid”

Update from January 22, 11:50 a.m .:

In his opening speech, Friedrich Merz attacked Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).

"Where is your management, Mr. Scholz?" asks Merz.

There is no clear line, for example when it comes to compulsory vaccination.

He also addresses the Ukraine crisis: "People are afraid," says Merz.

He criticizes: "You were neither in Washington nor in Moscow." His predecessors had shown leadership in this situation, argues Merz.

Friedrich Merz, candidate for the office of CDU federal chairman, speaks at the federal party conference of the CDU in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus.

At the 34th party conference of the CDU, Merz is to be elected as the new federal chairman.

Due to the pandemic, the party conference will take place purely digitally.

The result of the election must therefore still be confirmed by postal vote.

© Michael Kappeler/dpa

Update from January 22, 11:30 a.m .:

The outgoing CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak has asked his party to implement plans for introducing a women’s quota.

The structure and statute commission suggested “that there should be a binding quota for more women in leadership positions in the CDU,” said Ziemiak on Saturday at the digital party conference.

It was "not an easy compromise".

"I hope that this path will be continued." In the summer of 2020, the CDU Statutes Commission proposed that by 2025 party executives from the district level must be made up of half men and half women.

Also because of the corona pandemic, this has not yet been decided by a party conference.

This would require a face-to-face event.

Update from January 22, 10:50 a.m.:

The Saarland Prime Minister Tobias Hans (CDU) sees the designated CDU chairman Friedrich Merz as the party's unifier. "The time of the factional fights must be over and it will be over because Friedrich Merz will now tackle the task of uniting the currents of the party like no other," said Hans. "We trust Friedrich Merz that he can put the traffic light government in pointed debates in the German Bundestag as well as in public debates." Merz is also the right candidate to make the CDU younger and more female. "We have to put young faces, young women, young men in the foreground," explains Hans. "Friedrich Merz has declared this a top priority. If we look at the situation of the candidates at this party conference, we find thatthat never before have so many women run for the positions.”

Laschet starts the CDU party conference with an attack on traffic lights - Merz comments on the relationship with the predecessor

Update from January 22, 10:35 a.m .:

Friedrich Merz, the future party leader, thanks Armin Laschet in his speech.

It honors Laschet that he took personal responsibility for the election defeat.

However, the CDU “lost the election together”.

With a view to the former competition for the presidency in 2021, he notes: “It never turned into a personal enmity.

On the contrary: we have been friends and political companions for many years.”

Update from January 22, 10:25 a.m .:

The outgoing CDU chairman and failed Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet talks about the federal election in September, which he describes as a “defeat”.

"It's still an open wound and the scar will remain," said Laschet at the digital party conference.

Nevertheless, he does not lack criticism of the traffic light coalition: "Dress warmly, the CDU is coming back," he emphasized in his last speech as party chairman.

Laschet expressly supports his designated successor Friedrich Merz, who has support far beyond the different wings and is "just the right person at this time".

He calls on his party for self-confidence and unity after the heavy defeat in the general election.

The SPD tries to portray it as if the CDU were on the ground and destroyed.

He said: "Don't make a mistake." The CDU is more than a federal party, it governs in many federal states and also wants to win the upcoming state elections this year.

He also advocates solidarity and confidentiality within the party, including during internal consultations.

"We have to learn to work seriously again." It must also be accepted that the CDU and CSU will never again argue as they did last time about the chancellor candidacy.

CDU presidency: Digital party conference started - Friedrich Merz on the home straight

Update from January 22, 9.40 a.m .:

The CDU started its digital party conference to elect the new chairman Friedrich Merz on Saturday morning.

The event started with an ecumenical prayer after a short welcome by the outgoing General Secretary Paul Ziemiak.

Merz's election is scheduled for late morning.

The other members of the party executive are also newly elected.

The Berlin member of the Bundestag, Mario Czaja, is to become the new general secretary.

At around 8.45 a.m., Merz and his wife Charlotte came to the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus, the party headquarters in Berlin.

At around 11.30 a.m., Merz wanted to give his introductory speech in front of the 1001 delegates who were connected.

This was followed by a question and answer session and then the online election.

The result should be available around 12.30 p.m.

Update from January 22, 8 a.m.:

It is now a question of "unity and team spirit", said the outgoing Secretary General Paul Ziemiak on Friday evening in Berlin after meetings of the Presidium and the Federal Executive Committee to prepare for the online party congress this Saturday.

As a consequence of the Union's historically worst result in a federal election, at 24.1 percent, the CDU is re-electing its entire leadership.

The result must then be formally confirmed by postal vote.

The CDU must compete together as a team, said Ziemiak.

With four state elections, 2022 is a crucial year.

"We want and we will win the upcoming state elections," he said, referring to the elections in Saarland in March and in Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia in May, where the CDU is the prime minister.

CDU party conference: Kühnert speaks of "Merz in sheep's clothing" - Germans are skeptical about the chances of unity

It was eagerly awaited how great the support is with which the 1001 delegates are giving the 66-year-old Merz - and whether he will get the more than 80 percent of the votes he is aiming for. Immediately after the party congress, Merz wanted to gather the new leadership for the first time. Officially, the constitutive meetings of the new management bodies should be on February 7th. SPD General Secretary Kevin Kühnert told the newspapers of the Funke media group about the future CDU boss: "I think he's a Merz in sheep's clothing." Merz is trying tactically to create a new image. "He seems to have noticed that the socio-political positions he has presented in Germany no longer win a majority and that potential coalition partners are also scared off," said Kühnert.

Friedrich Merz, candidate for the office of CDU federal chairman, walks next to Mario Czaja (l), candidate for the office of CDU general secretary, before the federal party conference of the CDU in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus. At a digital party conference on January 22, 2022, Merz is to be elected as the new party chairman. © Michael Kappeler/dpa

At Merz's request, Mario Czaja, a member of the Bundestag and former Berlin Senator for Social Affairs, is to be elected Secretary General at the party conference. Among other things, Czaja is to cover the workers' wing. For formal reasons, Christina Stumpp, a member of the Bundestag presented by Merz as the future Deputy Secretary General, can only be elected at a later party conference. Of the five previous deputy chairmen, only Silvia Breher, member of the Bundestag from Lower Saxony, is standing again. The Schleswig-Holstein Minister of Education Karin Prien, the Saxon Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer, the Baden-Württemberg member of the Bundestag Andreas Jung and the member of the Bundestag and economic expert Carsten Linnemann are new candidates.

Update from January 22, 7.30 a.m

.: According to a survey, the Germans are skeptical that the future CDU leader Friedrich Merz can reunite the Union after the clashes with the CSU.

According to a representative survey by the opinion research institute Civey on behalf of the

(Saturday edition), 44 percent of those questioned do not believe that Merz can lead the Union to unity.

Before the CDU party conference: Merz hopes for a lot of approval – the state of the party is “sobering”

On the other hand, 38 percent trust him to create more common ground in the relationship between the CDU and CSU.

18 percent are undecided when asked whether Merz will succeed in uniting the CDU and CSU more strongly again.

In the supporters of the CDU and CSU, however, 75 percent trust Merz to overcome the differences between the two parties.

However, at 47 percent, the skepticism among the Bavarian population is even greater than in the federal government.

On the other hand, only around one in five supporters of the SPD and Greens believe that the election of Merz will bring better times for the CDU and CSU.

First report from January 21, 4:30 p.m.:

Berlin – Friedrich Merz mastered the obligation at the third attempt, now only the freestyle is missing: On Saturday, the 66-year-old is to be elected the new party leader of the CDU at an online party conference.

In December 2021, Merz had already been selected with 62.1 percent as the successor to Armin Laschet, who failed as a candidate for chancellor.

It was the first member survey on party leadership in the history of the CDU.

CDU party congress: Merz hopes for great approval when elected chairman

The election of Merz at the party congress is considered safe.

The economist is hoping for a lot of approval there.

"An eight in front would be nice," said Merz of the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" with a view to the percentage result.

Merz and the CDU are getting tailwind from the Union voters, as the latest Germany trend from Infratest dimap on behalf of the ARD

shows.

He sees the CDU facing a difficult task after the bitter defeat in the federal elections.

"We have only reached 24.1 percent of the voters and 19 percent of those eligible to vote in Germany," analyzed Merz in the

.

"It almost doesn't get any more brutal than that." The state of the party was "sobering" and he called the situation among young voters "dramatic".

CDU party conference: Friedrich Merz faces a difficult task as chairman

In the ARD

, Merz said that the CDU, as a “middle party”, had to permanently bind voter groups “across all generations” and “all forms of living together”.

The "big question" is whether the CDU can remain a people's party and achieve election results of "well over 30 percent" again.

With his election at the party conference on Saturday, which is considered safe, Merz's path to power is still not official.

Since the event will be held online, the election must be finally confirmed by postal vote.

The CDU wants to announce the result on January 31st.