Tuesday, April 20, 2021
K question in the Union
“We have to get back together now”
After the power struggle over the K question, the CDU and CSU have now agreed: Armin Laschet is the Union’s candidate for chancellor. Wiebke Winter, the youngest member of the CDU federal executive board, has stood behind Markus Söder in the struggle for the candidate. And now?
ntv.de: You spoke out in favor of Söder on the board of directors. Why?
Wiebke Winter: The Young Union of Germany and also my home association, the CDU district association Bremen-Nord and the CDU Bremerhaven, have all spoken out in favor of Söder by a majority. I then took this vote with me to the federal executive committee, because these are the people I represent.
Why did the Junge Union prefer the CSU boss?
Many, with whom I spoke, liked the clear and decisive demeanor of Markus Söder over the past few weeks. This has led many to plead for Mr. Söder. But Armin Laschet also has broad support, especially when you talk to people who have seen him in North Rhine-Westphalia. Above all about him as a campaigner, they say: “You have to look at it first, you have to experience it first.” I am excited to see it for myself now.
Now you are calling for Laschet’s support. Why did you change your mind?
I haven’t changed my mind. I would still have been happy if Markus Söder had become a candidate for chancellor. That is very clear. But a party lives from democratic processes. It is important that we stand together as one in the end. That is exactly what Markus Söder said today: He will support Armin Laschet. I now see it as our task in the Union that we now have to come together again.
However, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t want a different result – like many other people. But above all, it is now a matter of bringing the right content into our election program and then going into a strong election campaign.
They wanted to involve the district chairperson in the decision. However, your motion was rejected yesterday by 14 votes to 29 in the board. Do you have the feeling that the K question was not decided so democratically after all?
The federal executive is a democratically elected body and this federal executive made democratic decisions. Nevertheless, I would have been happy if the district chairperson had also been included. There was a big discrepancy between what the majority said after the polls and what the federal executive board decided. The people at the grassroots level, at least according to the surveys, had a strong tendency towards Mr. Söder.
So yesterday I applied for a conference of district chairpersons to be convened at short notice. However, the application was rejected. You could also say that this was correct because we had a quicker decision.
The last few days have also made it clear that the views of the CSU and CDU are sometimes far apart. How will the parties manage to appear as a united union in the election campaign?
In democratic processes we often experience that we have several candidates. In the end, we can only choose one. This is not the first time that a CDU member has kicked a CSU member. So far, however, the Union has always managed to reunite. Markus Söder made it very clear that he congratulated Armin Laschet and promised the CDU any support.
I particularly liked this quote from him: “There are days of discussion and there are days of decision. And now there are days, weeks and months of action.” I think that’s exactly right. We should take up this appeal.
But the task of uniting the CSU and CDU after this obvious dispute between the parties will certainly be a great challenge.
Sure, we still have to discuss internally. It would certainly be good if Armin Laschet went back to the associations now – but he knows that too, he has already offered it. I am sure that he will then be able to convince a lot of people and take their wishes with him.
What’s next?
We need to get down to the content now. I would have liked to have conducted the discussion on the K question more according to content-related criteria. Now we have to get over the personnel issue a little. Because in the end it’s all about the content that the candidate for chancellor must represent, but above all the candidates on site. I am one of these candidates for the German Bundestag – I am running directly in Bremen. I want to do something for the people in my constituency. In the end, it is important for them which substantive decisions a new Chancellor makes. So we have to get together and think really good – I am particularly advocating compliance with the 1.5 degree target and climate neutrality by 2040!
Clara Suchy spoke to Wiebke Winter
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