As of: March 2, 2024, 6:58 a.m
By: Philipp Bräuner
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The parliamentary group leader of the Hesse CDU, Ines Claus, apparently wants to become deputy federal leader.
That can get Merz into trouble.
Berlin – The search for a successor to Carsten Linnemann, who has been promoted to general secretary, threatens to be more unpleasant for Friedrich Merz than expected.
After, as the SZ
reports, he
recently had to defend himself against criticism of the NRW dominance in the federal CDU with regard to the only candidate so far, Karl-Josef Laumann, the latter now apparently also has competition.
Power struggle in the CDU: Position as deputy CDU chairman remains controversial
According to consistent media reports, the parliamentary group leader of the CDU in Hesse, Ines Claus, has expressed interest in running for the position of deputy federal chairwoman.
Claus' candidacy could now cause problems for Merz from another direction.
The 45-year-old is the only woman at the head of a CDU state parliamentary group and supports the course announced at the 2022 federal party conference of making the party younger and more female.
If her candidacy fails, this could be interpreted as a fatal sign against her own claim.
The parliamentary group leader of the Hesse CDU Ines Claus (center) apparently wants to become deputy federal leader.
© Andreas Arnold/dpa
Claus has been the parliamentary group leader of the Christian Democrats in the Wiesbaden state parliament since 2020; she was only confirmed in office in January with 42 votes to three.
Friedrich Merz himself recently made it clear that he thinks highly of Claus as a politician.
After winning the state election in Hesse, he praised her
for her contribution to the “outstanding election victory,” according to
Spiegel .
Two more women are standing for election as deputy chairman of the CDU
In addition to Laumann, Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer, Bundestag members Andreas Jung and Silvia Breher and Schleswig-Holstein's Science and Education Minister Karin Prien are up for election.
All four are current deputies to the party chairman and will be elected at the CDU federal party conference on May 6th in Berlin.
If the personnel issue ultimately becomes too sensitive for Merz, he could use a recipe from the CDU's bag of tricks.
Because when there was also a threat of a jockeying for posts before the federal party conference of the Christian Democrats in 2012, the deputy positions were simply increased from four to five.
With Claus as number six, the gender ratio would ultimately be balanced again.
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