No Baerbock-Habeck internum
Lang wants a primary election for the Greens’ candidacy for chancellor
January 26, 2024, 8:48 a.m
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Union politicians have been openly debating for some time now about who their candidate for chancellor could be in the coming federal election. Ricarda Lang would like this decision to be much more discreet for the Greens. After all, it is not the party leadership that should vote, but rather its base.
Green Party leader Ricarda Lang wants to leave the decision about the next candidate for chancellor to the party base. “If there is more than one applicant for the candidacy for chancellor, we will hold a primary election,” Lang told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
When asked whether the Green government members Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck could make the decision between themselves, like last time, Lang answered in the negative: “The party is a leader on this issue.” With a view to the 2025 federal election, Lang said: “Our claim to leadership continues – also for the year 2025.” However, the Union has shown “that it is not the smartest concept to hold Chancellor debates on an open stage.”
In the Union, in addition to CDU leader Friedrich Merz and CSU leader Markus Söder, North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst was recently considered as possible candidates for chancellor. Several CDU members have already spoken out in favor of Merz as a candidate. CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann said something in the “stern”: “Friedrich Merz is the man with the plan.” Especially in a crisis, it is important to know “where the journey should go, how to hold this country together and lead it forward.” Merz meets these requirements. The Union has agreed to clarify the K question in late summer 2024, around a year before the next federal election.
Söder also saw Merz’s “current favorite role very clearly.” The Bavarian Prime Minister also promised an “orderly procedure” on “Deutschlandfunk”. “In the end, the two party leaders make a proposal and it will certainly be agreed this time.”