The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Designated CDU boss Merz: farewell to the "conservative bone"

2022-01-22T07:32:10.541Z


Designated CDU boss Merz: farewell to the "conservative bone" Created: 01/22/2022, 08:18 By: Mike Schier, Christian Deutschlaender Friedrich Merz becomes the new party leader of the CDU. © Michael Kappeler/dpa At the third attempt, just before the finish: On Saturday (January 22), Friedrich Merz is officially elected CDU chairman. And tries to file its edges. Munich/Berlin – The very last con


Designated CDU boss Merz: farewell to the "conservative bone"

Created: 01/22/2022, 08:18

By: Mike Schier, Christian Deutschlaender

Friedrich Merz becomes the new party leader of the CDU.

© Michael Kappeler/dpa

At the third attempt, just before the finish: On Saturday (January 22), Friedrich Merz is officially elected CDU chairman.

And tries to file its edges.

Munich/Berlin – The very last confession one would expect from Friedrich Merz is that he is a comrade.

But it's true, and he's happy to tell you when asked.

Merz is a member of the Reutberg monastery brewery, he holds cooperative shares of 600 euros.

"Instead of a dividend, there's a hearty snack with two liters of beer once a year," he says.

Comrade Frederick!

That's one of the most amazing stories to emerge about the 66-year-old these days.

Shortly before taking office as chairman of the CDU, Merz wants to broaden the public image of himself, smooth out rivalries and dim down conflicts.

He says so openly, recently in an interview with the

Süddeutsche Zeitung

: "It was never true that I was this conservative bone from the day before yesterday."

CDU: As party leader, Friedrich Merz wants to appeal to the broad masses of the Union

Merz knows two things: There is a deep longing among the conservative voters in the country for a return, which has grown in 16 years with Merkel.

But even in the Union, this only applies to some of the members.

As the new boss, the Sauerlander has to prove that he is there for all currents, conservative, liberal, for those from Christian social teaching and for the black eccentrics from Bavaria too.

Merz has therefore been working on his image and role for a few weeks.

Keyword conservative: The Union is the "people's party of the middle", he emphasizes.

He corrected his family image publicly and is now open to adoptions in same-sex marriages: "Some homosexual couples are probably better parents than some heterosexual ones," he said.

On the other hand, he shows little inclination to change his economic policy profile, which has been considered neoliberal since the famous Leipzig party conference in 2003 (the one with the capitation fee).

Many in the CDU are struggling with the "social democratization" under Merkel.

Minimum wage, retirement at 63. There will be other priorities under Merz – more like retirement at 69. Where the FDP now has to make compromises in the traffic light, Merz can represent the purer doctrine as long as the social wing does not run a storm.

And bringing the wings together should be anything but easy: According to

Spiegel

, Merz had invited all surviving CDU leaders to a meal as a sign of reconciliation on Saturday evening.

But Angela Merkel and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer canceled.

Designated CDU leader Friedrich Merz is trying to break new ground

Keyword environment: He now talks more often about an ecological renewal of the market economy, about respect for animals, about reconciliation. He even allowed himself to be photographed

for

Der Spiegel

in a forest-green suit with a grass-green tie. His path, however, is different from that of the real Greens. Merz, for example, is open to nuclear energy.

Keyword women: Merz was never perceived as a major promoter of women. He is against a quota for the party. But now he's trying to get more women into his team. He brings the Schleswig-Holstein Minister of Education Karin Prien to the top of the CDU, certainly not edgy-conservative, and Julia Klöckner and Silvia Breher stay on board. He even asked the male-dominated JU to send a young woman to the party leadership. However, the path is difficult. With the Baden-Württemberg MP Christina Stumpp (34), he promised a deputy general secretary for the CDU. But then the party headquarters noticed that this office does not even exist and that the statutes can only be changed when the meetings are held in person again.

Keyword Bayern: Merz does not have to reinvent itself for Bayern.

But he tries not to be perceived as a Sauerland foreigner: He spends a lot of time in the Free State, he dialed into the joint video conference of the Union leaders from the holiday home on Tegernsee.

The Reutberg episode is one of them, as is the meeting with Markus Söder at nearby Kirchsee: he completed the photo series in the freezing cold and strong wind in a thin jacket.

Friedrich Merz and the CSU - an eventful history

Merz has a checkered history with the CSU.

Horst Seehofer, once his opponent as a social politician, surprised a small group in 2016 when – at the height of the refugee debate – he brought Merz into play as an alternative chancellor to the disgraced Angela Merkel.

At that time, Merz seemed miles away from the Chancellery.

He was under contract with the investment giant BlackRock.

A potential stumbling block that later made Seehofer move away from the Merz idea.

With Markus Söder, personally anything but a close friend so far, Merz is now trying to find a new relationship.

He vows that there will be fair dealings with each other, and Söder says boldly: "2021 must not be repeated."

(cd/mik) Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-01-22

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.