Political News Germany: Alexander Hold proposed as Deputy Speaker of the Bavarian Parliament

Berlin –

What political conflicts are currently taking place in Germany? What domestic and foreign policy issues are currently driving German politicians? And what statements of politicians cause the Germans to raise their ears?

In our political news, we keep you informed of the evolution of German politics.

Alexander Hold proposed as deputy speaker of the state parliament

Surprise during the formation of a government in Bavaria: TV Judge Alexander Hold (56) could judge the future of the Free State as Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of the 39; State.

As a member of Free Voters – a partner of the CSU coalition – he will now have a place in Parliament. Hold had obtained in Sunday's election with 21.4% of the first votes the second place in his constituency, Kempten / Oberallgäu.

The party has now proposed the Swabians as a candidate for the election of the Bureau at the constituent session of the state parliament on Monday. At the meeting of the parliamentary group Friday, 23 deputies voted as future vice president. Two deputies abstained.

He became known throughout the country as a Sat.1 TV umpire.

For him, however, politics is not a new territory: Hold already holds the role of Free Voters Group Leader in Kempten City Council. In the 2017 federal election, the lawyer was a candidate in free elections.

CSU and Free Voters agree on a government alliance in Bavaria

Less than three weeks after the elections in the state of Bavaria, the CSU and Free Voters decided to form a coalition government. "We are done," said Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) on Friday night in Parliament, as well as head of voters Hubert Aiwanger: "A breakthrough."

Both said nothing about the content of the results of the negotiations, the division of responsibilities or other details. First, Sunday afternoon, the respective party committees will be informed and approve the coalition. Monday morning, the coalition agreement should be signed. On Tuesday, Söder is expected to be re-elected to the Parliament.

The CSU collapsed in the October 14 legislative elections to 37.2% and is now dependent on a coalition partner.

Jens Spahn publishes a video and promotes the presidency of the CDU

Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn has positioned himself in the competition for the presidency of the CDU as a defender of conservative change. On Thursday, the runner-up to party leader Angela Merkel made an advertisement in a short video clip.

The 38-year-old said: "The CDU is the heart of our democracy, we let this heart lose power." He now wants a "restart" of the CDU.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer continues to show restraint as Spahn and Friedrich Merz, former leader of the trade union faction, warm up. She will not comment on the party's presidential candidacy until next week, the CDU secretary general wrote on Twitter.

Coalition negotiations in record time – Markus Söder to be re-elected Prime Minister Tuesday

CSU Secretary General Markus Blume expects Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) to be re-elected to Parliament on Tuesday.

CSU and free voters had negotiated in "record time", said Blume Wednesday night at Bayerischer Rundfunk. Blume expressed confidence that the CSU party executive could discuss the coalition agreement on Sunday. After that, according to the general secretary of the CSU, it will be fast: "Monday, the state parliament will be constituted, Tuesday, the election of the Prime Minister."

CSU lost an absolute majority in the national elections in Bavaria in mid-October. Söder has therefore started negotiations with the Free Voters on the formation of a coalition. Blume announced that CSU would soon inform "what lessons we need to learn from the election results". This should happen after the conservative European People 's Party (EPP) declared its main candidate in next year' s European elections in Helsinki on Wednesday and Thursday. One of the candidates is Vice President CSU Manfred Weber.

Friedrich Merz wants to follow Angela Merkel as CDU President

Friedrich Merz justified his candidacy for the presidency of the CDU by his desire to leave and indirectly criticized the policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). "We must not let the voters express their frustration at the populist movements of the established parties," Merz told AFD Wednesday at the federal press conference in Berlin. But he was convinced he could collaborate with the Chancellor in case of victory. "I firmly believe that Angela Merkel and I will get along and we will deal with these new conditions."

Merz stressed: "The CDU must clearly define its main brand." The main challenges are migration, globalization, climate change and digitization. "We need departure and renewal, but we do not need a revolution." Merkel announced her withdrawal from party leadership after 18 years of risk of separating the presidency and Chancery. "I'm ready to embark on this adventure."

Before Merz came to the press in the capital, NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet had given up before succeeding Angela Merkel as head of the CDU. He confirmed it Wednesday to the journalists of Düsseldorf. In the now-planned separation of the chancellery and the party presidency, the office of the head of government in the largest state is incompatible with the presidency of the ruling party in the federal government, said the 57-year-old .
He did not want to jeopardize the proper functioning of NRW's black and yellow coalition "for a party office". When asked if he would be available as a candidate for Chancellor, the 57-year-old replied: "The question is not asked today."

In an interview in 1998, Merkel explained why she would become chancellor

Her retirement caused a political earthquake: Angela Merkel wants to leave the leadership of the CDU and also not yet as Chancellor in the elections.

The "Deutschlandfunk" has published on Twitter excerpts from an interview with Angela Merkel, who had led the photographer Herlinde Koelbl in 1998.

Especially a statement is remarkable, it explains at least one reason Merkel.

When asked what dreams she has outside politics, Merkel explained:

Well, I would like to find the right time to get out of politics at some point. It's a lot harder than I ever imagined. But I do not want to be a half dead wreck when I get out of politics, but after a period of boredom to come up with something different.

Last year already, the sentence had already been asked shortly before Merkel became Chancellor again. Asked about "the wreck half dead," she responded to the reporter with determination: "I do not withdraw anything from my words."

In the rest of the 1998 interview, Merkel said that she wanted to be remembered for the one who "moved some things that can be said, which are related to her name. has not lost touch with reality. "

Sigmar Gabriel: Merkel resigns until May as chancellor

Former SPD leader Sigmar Gabriel expects Angela Merkel's Chancellery, and hence the grand coalition, to end by May 2019 at the latest.

Merkel's renunciation of the presidency of the CDU is probably only the first step, ultimately, the road to a Jamaican coalition of the Union, the FDP and the Greens by the task of the liberation of the Chancery ", writes Gabriel in" time ".

"At the latest after the European elections in May 2019, this should be the case, Angela Merkel knows what she owes to the CDU."

Gabriel believes that new elections are unlikely in this case. FDP leader Christian Lindner repeatedly accused Angela Merkel of leaving the Liberals after the Jamaica inquiry in November 2017. As a result, the SPD was again persuaded to join another grand coalition.

Gabriel has called his own party to a complete new start. "The content is for the moment rather incidental, because all the debate and good governance of the coalition in terms of retirement, rents, care, full employment, work, training, school and day care have not helped the social democrats, "wrote the former foreign minister. "Radical social-democratic realism".

For this, the SPD also had to fundamentally restructure its party work: "With a hundred or so young influencers who manage social networks day and night, we would be better placed than twice as many employees who only do business. balance and manage the interests of the group in the SPD ".

Head of the Saar government: Seehofer should follow Merkel's example

Tobias Hans (CDU), Prime Minister of Saarland, has called on the Federal Minister of the Interior, Horst Seehofer, Chancellor Angela Merkel will do the same and explain his retirement from the presidency of the CSU"The fact is that Angela Merkel gave an example of how to take responsibility for a poor election result," said Hans "to the world". CSU will also have to deal with this debate. "Angela Merkel has managed to make a self-determined departure as party leader, I also wish the colleague Horst Seehofer." At the same time, Hans spoke for CDU Secretary-General Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, replacing Merkel at the top of the CDU.
Merkel had announced that after the heavy losses of her party during the state election in Hesse, she would no longer stand in the party presidency in December at the CDU's federal party congress in Hamburg. Up to here, Seehofer is wondering if he wants to draw personal consequences because of the poor performance of the CSU during the election of the state of Bavaria two weeks ago.

Police defend themselves against the Facebook message of Paul Hampel, former director of the AfD

Former Lower Saxon country chief, AfD Paul Hampel, had caused a photo on Facebook Saturday night.

You can see police officers holding a German flag. Hampel writes: "Attention, Mr. Pistorius, there are still brave police in Lower Saxony, hundreds of AfDers have responded to the call by singing the national anthem."

For the police in Oldenburg, this presentation is intolerable. She sees the picture completely out of context and takes a stand: the picture shows a police unit that wanted to bid farewell to a deployment to the AFD party congress, a long-time leader.

"The German flag and the flag of Lower Saxony were shown in the background," police said. The celebration was however canceled when members of the AfD party began to sing the national anthem.

"The publication of the images is expressly not allowed! The reinterpretation and the presentation for propaganda purposes are extremely unfair and discreditable, it is simply difficult to tolerate the agents of mission represented in the photo", underlines we in his message.

The AFD House leader repeatedly speaks in front of the parliament of Schwerin State of "Blacks"

With the repeated use of the term "ghostwriter" in a debate over allegations of abuse of power by asylum seekers, the head of the AfD faction within the Mecklenburg Diet- Vorpommern, Nikolaus Kramer, provoked protests among other political groups.

SPD parliamentary leader Thomas Krüger spoke on Thursday of a "scandalous provocation seriously violating the human dignity and dignity of the upper house". Peter Ritter of the Left Party expressed his misunderstanding that the omissions were not reprimanded by the Bureau.

(DPA / afp)