Saturday, January 08, 2022
“Slightly longer term work”
Merz does not see the new CDU program until 2025
The basic program of the CDU is getting on in years. But the future party leader Merz is postponing readjustment until shortly before the next federal election. However, he wants to speed up the digitization of his party. There are finally four state elections.
The designated CDU party leader Friedrich Merz has announced an offensive in the digital mobilization of members before the four state elections this year. “The Union is not positioned well enough,” said Merz on the sidelines of a closed conference of the NRW-CDU. At the same time, he announced a new basic program for the federal party for the year 2025.
“The schedule stipulates that we will complete the program process in around 2024,” said Merz, who, after winning a member survey, will officially be chosen as Armin Laschet’s successor in two weeks’ time. In 2025 the basic program could then “probably” be adopted. The current basic program dates from 2007. Under the former party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a new program was tackled in 2018, but no longer passed before the federal election in September, in which the Union had the worst result in its history.
“This is a bit of a long-term work,” said Merz about the basic program. “But of course we want to support the respective CDU regional associations in the four upcoming state elections, also from federal politics and from the federal office.”
Saarland becomes digitization test run
“Above all, we have to be able to reach our members and then our voters digitally,” said Merz. The start of the digitization offensive is to be made in Saarland, where the first state elections of this year will take place on March 27th. There a project for complete digitization “in the care and mobilization” of the 15,000 CDU members should be started, said Merz.
The future CDU chief described the elections in the two smaller federal states in Saarland and then in Schleswig-Holstein at the beginning of May as a “test run” for the support of the election campaigners there by the federal party. Experience gained there could then be used in the elections in the larger states of North Rhine-Westphalia on May 15 and Lower Saxony on October 9.