Friday 15th January 2021
JU boss Kuban in the "ntv early start"
"Friedrich Merz would be good for democracy"
A CDU chairman Merz would reconcile parts of the party – but is he also one for the whole people? The head of the Junge Union thinks yes. He expects a close race with Armin Laschet.
Shortly before the election of the new party leader, the head of the Junge Union, Tilman Kuban, advertised his preferred candidate Friedrich Merz. "Friedrich Merz would be good for democracy," said Kuban in the "early start" of ntv. "Because the argument and polarization is once again a bit in the political center – and we don't leave the whole thing to the fringes.
The people's parties would be more distinguishable with a CDU chairman Merz, said the chairman of the CDU youth organization. "He would make the margins smaller."
At the CDU party congress that begins tonight, Merz, as well as NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet and the CDU foreign expert Norbert Röttgen, are running for party chairmanship. The election will take place tomorrow, Saturday.
Kuban doesn't expect Röttgen to have a chance at the party chairmanship: "In the end there will be a heartbeat finale between Friedrich Merz and Armin Laschet." The winner does not automatically become the Union's candidate for chancellor, but: "He always has the first right of access. That was the case in the past and I am sure that it will be the same this time."
Nevertheless, there have been two CSU chancellor candidates in history. "We are now at a time where you may have to get out of old thought patterns. In my opinion, the most promising candidate should run for the Union in the end." The CDU and the CSU will decide who that is. Kuban had recently brought Health Minister Jens Spahn into play as a possible candidate for Chancellor. However, Spahn supports Laschet's candidacy.
Kuban accuses his party of "trickery"
In a vote within the Junge Union in autumn, Merz prevailed with an absolute majority. Since then, the youth squad has been promoting the Sauerland. In October, however, Kuban was not enthusiastic about Merz ‘criticism of the alleged" establishment "in the CDU, which wanted to prevent him as chairman and, at Laschet's instigation, delay the party congress. "Personally, I didn't think every statement was wise," Kuban said today. Nevertheless, it was "trickery" to postpone the party conference to January. Today there is no other legal situation than in December, even then a digital presidency election was possible.
Kuban does not consider the digital party congress to be a disadvantage for the supposedly strongest speaker Merz. "In the end it is the same challenge for all three. And all three of them want to become Chancellors of the Federal Republic of Germany. So they have to master this too."
At the party conference in Hamburg in 2018, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer turned the mood with a furious speech in her favor, Friedrich Merz surprisingly stumbled his appearance. This time, too, the speeches could make a difference, says Kuban – even though they are only digital. "You can also get excited at home in front of the screen."
"There must be light at the end of the tunnel"
In view of the increasing resignation in the population, Kuban called for a relaxation perspective for the corona measures. "There has to be light at the end of the tunnel. You can't shimmy from lockdown to lockdown to lockdown."
The number of infections is high and the mutation of the virus is a challenge. The signal, however, must be to demand consistency for another two or three weeks, but then also to make it clear how things will proceed. "If the over-70s are vaccinated, the death rates will be completely different – and then we will get a completely different debate in Germany," said Kuban. An announcement now needs to be made as to when the time will come to relax the measures. "We have to be very careful that we take people with us in the end."
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