Dispute over the direction before the party conference
CDU General Secretary is at odds with the Greens
May 5, 2024, 4:37 a.m
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Talks yes, coalition rather no: Before the CDU’s landmark party conference, General Secretary Linnemann demonstratively gave the Greens the cold shoulder. JU boss Winkel also sees the eco-party on the fundamentally wrong path. Kiel Prime Minister Günther has a different opinion.
Before the CDU federal party conference, General Secretary Carsten Linnemann distanced himself from the Greens. After the next federal election there will be talks with the eco-party, but he is critical of an alliance, he told the newspaper “Bild am Sonntag” according to the preliminary report. “It’s totally normal that you have to talk openly with everyone. That’s central. This also includes the Greens. But it’s also clear, Friedrich Merz made it clear, that the Greens are the furthest away from us in this traffic light. With these Greens there would never have been a coalition agreement with the CDU. They are simply unsettling the entire country,” said Linnemann.
According to the report, party leader Merz has not yet ruled out holding talks with the Greens about a possible coalition after the federal election, while Linnemann is hoping for a civil coalition. “Friedrich Merz expressed: Dear FDP, make an effort, otherwise we won’t get a middle-class majority. I think that’s what we need now. And that also requires a strong FDP. But these Greens, it won’t work with them,” said Secretary General Linnemann.
JU boss: “Can’t imagine black-green in the federal government”
The chairman of the Junge Union, Johannes Winkel, was also critical of a possible coalition with the Greens. “I can’t imagine black-green in the federal government,” Winkel told the magazine “Cicero.” He justified his doubts by saying that the Greens had “implemented a lot of things that were fundamentally wrong from our point of view” in the traffic light coalition. “Regardless of any coalition considerations, I don’t think the Greens’ political direction is systematically the right one,” said Winkel. However, he also sees “no advantage in holding a coalition debate a year and a half before an election.”
The debate about black-green at the federal level was reignited by Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther before the party conference that began on Monday. Günther had described the Greens as a “coalition partner” “with whom the Union can govern very well”. His CDU governs Schleswig-Holstein together with the Greens. Günther now told the Funke newspapers that the CDU should orient itself more closely towards the policies of the former Chancellor Angela Merkel. “There are many dissatisfied Green voters who would be willing to change.” This should bind the CDU to itself. “Angela Merkel’s centrist course was her recipe for success,” explained Günther.