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Friedrich Merz in the ZDF "summer interview": The low proportion of women in the CDU is "not the biggest problem in this country"
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Marius Becker / dpa
At the party conference in autumn, the CDU will decide whether they want to enforce a women's quota in the future, party leader Friedrich Merz had been banging around on the subject for a long time.
In the ZDF "summer interview" he reiterated his skeptical attitude to such a measure.
Even if he has now made a compromise proposal for a quota, he still only considers it "the second-best solution," he said.
He has never denied that the low proportion of women in the CDU is a problem.
"But it's not the biggest problem in this country."
"I want us to have enough women in the party, more than today," said Merz in the interview that will be broadcast in the evening.
»I want young women to work for the party and in the party.
But that is about factual issues and not so much about personnel issues.«
The proportion of women in the CDU has hardly changed since the 1990s.
In the Bundestag, the Union currently has a share of 23.5 percent, among party members it is 26.6 percent.
The age structure is also considered a problem: the average age of the members is 60.8 years.
The party conference on September 9th and 10th in Hanover is now to decide on the women's quota, which has been discussed for years.
In June, Merz proposed gradually introducing a 50 percent quota for women for party executives from district level by 2025.
But it should be limited to five years.
Merz distances itself from Kretschmer's Russia course
In an interview with ZDF, the CDU leader was also asked about the Saxon Prime Minister's course on Russia.
Michael Kretschmer (CDU) has been sharply criticized from many sides for his suggestion that Germany should mediate in the Ukraine war.
Merz has now again distanced himself from statements by the CDU deputy.
"With Michael Kretschmer, we have a prime minister in our ranks who sees things differently from the Saxon perspective, but that's not the opinion of the Union either," said Merz in the ZDF "summer interview".
Kretschmer said on Tuesday that Germany had to mediate in the war between Russia and Ukraine and ensure "that this war is frozen."
Russian raw materials are still needed.
Merz emphasized that there was no east-west divide when it came to sanctions.
Kretschmer is not the only Prime Minister in the East.
"He's not the only one, and all the other Prime Ministers in East Germany have a different opinion, and so does the CDU."
For the refinery in Schwedt, Brandenburg, which supplies practically all of East Germany, alternatives to Russian oil would have to be found, said Merz.
“It is perfectly clear that we have a national interest in ensuring that the supply is maintained.
We discuss the way, but not the goal.«
East Germany is particularly affected by the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine and by the European oil embargo against Russia because the Schwedt refineries in Brandenburg and Leuna in Saxony-Anhalt have for decades obtained Russian oil via the »Druschba« pipeline.
asc/dpa/AFP