Tuesday April 27, 2021
Concession to the south and east?
Merz is said to be in Laschet’s campaign team
Once they were competitors, now they should pull together: CDU leader Laschet is relying on party friend Merz in the upcoming federal election campaign. With the move, the Union’s candidate for chancellor probably also wants to have a positive influence on votes at state level.
Union chancellor candidate Armin Laschet wants to bring the economic expert Friedrich Merz into his election campaign team. “For me, Friedrich Merz belongs firmly to the team of the Union for the Bundestag election,” said the CDU chairman at a video link with the CDU in Baden-Württemberg, as it was said by participants. With his economic and financial competence, Merz could help decisively to master the huge challenges for Germany after the corona pandemic.
Laschet went on to say: “The Union has already successfully led Germany through many serious crises, with the right concepts and the best minds. For me, Friedrich Merz is one of them. We only win as a team.” All functionaries and mandate holders of the Southwest CDU from the state, the federal government and the European Parliament were invited to the video link. The CDU state chief and federal vice-president Thomas Strobl said, according to the information: “Armin Laschet and Friedrich Merz form a union.”
The CDU in Baden-Württemberg is the second largest regional association and in the power struggle for the candidacy for chancellor, the majority supported CSU boss Markus Söder. The former Union parliamentary group leader Merz is also very popular in the Southwest CDU. Even in the race for the CDU federal chairmanship, the state CDU had largely opposed Laschet and supported his competitor Merz. Laschet’s move to involve Merz is also likely due to the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt on June 6th. The Sauerland is particularly valued by CDU supporters in eastern Germany.
Don’t run after the Greens
According to several participants, Laschet said that he was aware that there were many aspirants from North Rhine-Westphalia for higher positions in the federal government. There are Merz, the foreign expert Norbert Röttgen, Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus and Health Minister Jens Spahn. All are: “Man, Catholic, North Rhine-Westphalia.” But the CDU needs more diversity. “Still, the Friedrich Merz is a different category.” The 65-year-old economic expert could inspire people.
The CDU chairman warned at the meeting against running after the Greens because of the falling polls. “We have to be careful that we don’t pretend we’re something like the Greens,” said Laschet, according to the information. You have to be “pure CDU”. “Then we have a chance to win this general election,” said Laschet. He warned that the Greens around Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock would use every opportunity presented without forming a federal government without the Union. “Then it will be a different republic.”
He is surprised that the CSU is now being portrayed as modern and he himself as someone from the 80s. It was not so long ago that the CSU was anything but modern on issues such as migration and the CO2 price. “Now suddenly you are at the forefront of the ecological movement.”
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