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By: Sneha Bhale
Recently Germany’s CDU party, or the Christian Democrat Party, chose Armin Laschet as their new leader. The pick suggests the party favors’ continuing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel's middle-of-the-road policies when she steps down in September after 16 years in office.
Laschet’s win puts him in a position to succeed Merkel when the CDU and its sister party, the Christian Social Union, decide in March who should become the center-right bloc’s candidate in the national elections for the role of the next chancellor of Germany. The CDU has led Germany’s federal government for 52 of the past 72 years and with a win in the national elections, their striking influence over Germany will continue.
Laschet now replaces the chair of the party Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer or more commonly known as “AKK”; the defense secretary whom Merkel had been training as her successor. AKK largely failed to assert her authority over the party and announced her resignation in late February after blaming Angela Merkel for failing to provide enough support.
Some actually see Laschet as the male version of Merkel. Laschet said that “there are many people who find Angela Merkel good and only after that the CDU.”, and he plans to utilize the trust the public has with Merkel.
Who were his opponents for the leader of the CDU?
His two main opponents were corporate lawyer Friedrick Merz, a Merkel critic, and Norbert Röttgen, chairman of the Bundestag’s foreign affairs panel.
Merz, 65, is a one-time rival of Merkel who stands for a more conservative course but lacks government experience. He is making his second attempt to win the party leadership after a decade away from front-line politics, following his narrow loss in 2018 to the outgoing leader, AKK.
Laschet defeated Friedrich Merz, a much more conservative figure, in a runoff election, 521 to 466, during a party conference that was held virtually due to covid-19 measures.
Merz told delegates that, when he joined the CDU at 16, “[He] didn’t go into a placement agency for government jobs; [he] went into a party that has principles, that fought passionately for its politics ... always carried by the idea that there are no left-wing majorities in this country.”
Röttgen, also a centrist, was eliminated in the first round of voting. The party’s 1,000 delegates, who voted in a virtual conference, then gave Laschet his win in a runoff that saw him beat Merz by 55 votes.
Who are his opponents for Chancellor of Germany?
The CDU is part of the Union bloc along with the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union, and the two parties will decide together on the center-right candidate. CSU leader Markus Soeder, the governor of Bavaria, is widely considered a potential candidate after gaining political stature during the pandemic.
No CSU leader has ever successfully won the chancellorship, but Söder is quite popular within the party. Though he broke with Merkel on her “open-door” immigration policies, he strongly backed her up during the government’s coronavirus response, and many saw him, too, as a steady leader during the pandemic.
Health Minister Jens Spahn is another possible candidate. His profile also rose during the coronavirus, as Germany was seen as a world leader in controlling the pandemic in the first wave of the crisis. However, he is now facing some backlash for Germany’s current struggles with the pandemic.
Germany is currently dealing with a surge in Covid-19 cases; after keeping Covid-19 mortality low for most of the pandemic, the country has, since mid-December, exceeded the US in deaths per capita. Germany, along with other EU countries, has also struggled with its vaccine rollout.
The new chancellor will need to have an effective Covid plan, plans on Germany’s role in the EU, and the migrant crisis.
Discussion Questions
Will Germany’s role in the EU stay the same under the new chancellor?
Will Germany still accept refugees under the new chancellor?
How will Germany-US relations change under the new chancellor?
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