Family reunion: Teufel, Oettinger, Schavan, Mappus together
Created: 05/10/2022, 22:11
The logo of the CDU.
© Michael Kappeler/dpa/symbol image
It was almost historic: On Tuesday evening in Stuttgart, the CDU parliamentary group in the state parliament gathered the current and former members of the state parliament for a reception on the occasion of the 70th birthday of the state of Baden-Württemberg.
It was an illustrious round in a café in the castle garden: Erwin Teufel (82), Günther Oettinger (68), Annette Schavan (66) and Stefan Mappus (56) followed the invitation of the young parliamentary group leader Manuel Hagel (34).
Stuttgart - Hagel has achieved a real feat with this, because the former top politicians hardly speak to each other in this constellation, let alone meet.
Since Oettinger succeeded the then Prime Minister Teufel in 2005, there has been a rift in the south-west CDU.
Hagel reportedly said in his speech that it was time to fill in old ditches.
Only if the CDU shows unity does it have a chance of replacing the Greens as the strongest force in the country.
In 2004, the CDU faction leader at the time, Oettinger, prevailed in a member survey against the then Minister of Education, Schavan, who was the devil's candidate.
After Oettinger moved to Brussels as EU Commissioner in 2010, Mappus, who belonged to the Teufel and Schavan camp, followed him.
In 2011, under Mappus, the CDU lost the state elections after 58 years of CDU dominance in Baden-Württemberg, and the Green Winfried Kretschmann became prime minister.
Since then, Mappus has had a difficult time in the CDU because of its legally controversial buyback of parts of EnBW.
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Since 2011, the south-west CDU has been falling in elections.
Most recently, in March 2021, it only reached 24.1 percent, well behind the Greens.
Kretschmann (73) announced a while ago that he wanted to stop after this legislative period.
Now the CDU, which currently governs in a coalition with the Greens, sees its chance.
Hagel is considered a beacon of hope for the CDU, he is said to have ambitions for the top candidate for the 2026 election.
Later in the evening, CDU state leader and Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (62) also came to the meeting - he still had to work on his speech for the state parliament debate this Wednesday.
The minister is currently under massive pressure because of the affair surrounding the disclosure of a lawyer's letter to the press.
The opposition is demanding his release and wants to corner him further this Wednesday in the state parliament.
Strobl was General Secretary under the CDU state leaders Oettinger and Mappus, after which he took over the state chairmanship himself.
In the evening, the widespread opinion among the CDU people was that one should now wait and see what the investigations of the public prosecutor's office reveal.
dpa