Merz is the winner of the first regional conference of the CDU – Politics –

"It's really fun to be there again," he urged the members of the northern CDU, who came to the first presentation conference of the three presidential candidates of the left. At the sight of the fully occupied room, he noticed "what I've missed a bit in recent years," confessed the former head of the Union faction. But he also earned some murmurs among the party members. Finally, he is accused of having earned more money in the private sector in recent years instead of participating in party work.

At the first of eight regional conferences organized in Germany under the slogan "Experience Democracy: Building the future", the members of the CDU of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern were invited to Lübeck . The interest of the party base in Merz, the general secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and the Minister of Health Jens Spahn is great: all the chairs occupied, which found no place, are in the corridors. After 18 years at the head of the CDU, Angela Merkel, the party seems electrified by the opportunity to discuss his successor and vote between three candidates.

After their introductory speeches, the three candidates are confronted with the questions of party members: it is the cohesion of society, affordable housing, the effects of digitization, autonomous driving or the equipment of the Bundeswehr. The alarm clock is the hour, so that all candidates have about the same time. However, the base candidates are not really supported.

Merz, the confidants of Merkel Kramp-Karrenbauer and the Conservative Chancellor Critic Spahn are also treated in a friendly manner – after months of struggles within the parties of the Union, they no longer want to continue bickering. For one thing must not be forgotten, calls Kramp-Karrenbauer in the room: "The political opponent always sits in the other political parties! He never sits in his own ranks!" And Merz confesses at the end of the three o'clock: "We have agreed that we only speak well of each other."

Covered, they were all three in the delicate question of the Chancellor. "If I become a party leader, my first question will not come to my mind, how can I get to the next office," said Spahn. "This party presidency is first for itself," Kramp-Karrenbauer said. And Merz promised to work well with Merkel against previous disputes. The Chancery "is one of the highest offices of the Federal Republic of Germany and it avoids such a conflict," he said.

The only tip of the evening came from Spahn against favorite Merz. When Merkel criticized him, while he was imprisoned for his refugee policy by Seehofer at a CSU party congress in 2015, Spahn peeked at his opponent: "We Let's all look forward to your return, "but in 2015, he would have liked" We had you there. "

Merz has already been traded as a hopeful of the Union. But after the defeat of the Union in the 2002 federal election, Merkel urged the group's president of the time to take office. From then on, they were both discouraged. In 2009, Merz has completely retired from active politics.

The fact that Merz then raised her finger after Merkel's withdrawal notice was a surprise to many. Although Kramp-Karrenbauer and Spahn have participated in countless festive events in recent years, Friedrich Merz is only one name for many members of the CDU. The regional conferences allow him to recall the members until the party congress of the CDU on 7 December. He used them in Lübeck.