Friday December 24th 2021
Union problems often homemade
Prien: CDU doesn’t need a shift to the right
The CDU has to reposition itself after losing the Bundestag election. Friedrich Merz will soon be its new chairman, and then the content will be realigned. Schleswig-Holstein’s Minister of Education, Karin Prien, is already thinking about this. A shift to the right is rejected.
In the opinion of Schleswig-Holstein’s Education Minister Karin Prien, the Union needs more controversial discussions on issues and clear positions in the opposition. In order to become more interesting for voters, the CDU does not need a shift to the right, but rather recognizable positions of its own, said Prien. “Discussions must be possible without us assuming that we are not representing the only correct CDU position.”
Prien wants to run as deputy CDU federal chairwoman at the federal party conference in mid-January. She is already deputy state chairwoman of the Union in Schleswig-Holstein. Not just every party member, but all potential voters should be able to spontaneously name three reasons for the CDU. “The opposition is about formulating the CDU in its purest form,” said Prien. “And the pure CDU does not necessarily have to do with the right and with the conservative. But the pure CDU must be a recognizable position that people clearly assign to us.” Because many of the Union’s problems are homemade.
“Of course, in the grand coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel, we were the ones who moderated, who always tended to slow down,” said Prien. That is the essence of conservative parties. “These tend to slow down social processes in such a way that people feel carried away.” The Union is still the people’s party that can best help to overcome the differences and rifts in society between town and country, young and old. “She has been able to do this again and again in the history of the Federal Republic of Germany and has also accompanied social developments in such a way that people do not feel overwhelmed.” This is of crucial importance for topics such as climate change, digitization or the aging society.