Regional Conference in Lubeck: CDU presidential candidates present themselves – applause for Merz

IIn Lübeck, CDU members met for a first regional conference during which the three candidates for the party presidency present themselves. CDU Secretary-General Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, former trade union leader Friedrich Merz and Health Minister Jens Spahn on Thursday evening presented about 800 CDU members from Schleswig-Holstein , Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The CDU organizes events under the slogan "Democracy Experience Shaping the Future". There was a "fair spirit of optimism in the party," said Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther, as the host of the Conference of Representatives in the north of the country, wishing welcome to the candidates.

After the introductory round, party members asked the candidate questions. In the event hall, a historic industrial building in the port of Lübeck, there were maps on which CDU members could indicate which question they wanted to ask to which candidate.

At the beginning of the conference, Merz received the strongest applause, followed by Kramp-Karrenbauer and Spahn. Günther praised the "fair competition" of candidates and expressed hope that this situation will continue even after the elections. "In the end, we all need you three to positions of responsibility."

Kramp-Karrenbauer: The CDU needs new forces

According to Kramp-Karrenbauer, the self-renewal of the CDU is not an end in itself. It is the resurgence of the party. "We have to find new strengths," she told Lübeck. 26% is not a measure for a popular party. "We have to convince more people of us again." The political opponent is always in the other parties, never in their own ranks.

She has already shown that she can lead tough campaigns and win, said Kramp-Karrenbauer. She cited homeland security as an important topic. It is to dispel the doubts of the population that the CDU is still the party of homeland security, that it could always enforce the law. The 2015 refugee crisis should not be repeated. At that time, about 900,000 migrants had returned to Germany, largely unchecked.

Merz: the CDU can recover 40%

The former faction leader of the Union, Friedrich Merz, estimates that a rebound of the CDU of the order of 40% is possible. But "better participation from the bottom up" in the party is needed, said CDU presidential candidate Thursday in Lübeck at the first of eight regional conferences on the succession of Angela Merkel to head the party after 18 years.

"The CDU is a popular party in the center, we do not move it to the left or to the right." Internal and external security are trademarks of the CDU. The party must defend an operational and enforceable constitutional state.

Merz is also committed to a social and environmental economic policy. And he stressed that the CDU must remain Europartei in Germany and contribute to pulling the European Union out of the crisis. Merz wants to stem the success of the AfD: "I dare to halve the AFD – it works," said Merz with much applause. "Only we must create the conditions." He was determined to start with party members.

Spahn: the CDU must be a modern partner

CDU presidential candidate Jens Spahn wants his party to have more courage for open debates. The CDU must be a modern active party, said the Health Minister on Thursday night in Lübeck at the first regional conference, during which candidates introduce themselves to members. From the debate, however, a solution, a decision must then be derived. The party must be modern Conservative, he said. It's about the middle clbad.

Security is important for citizens. It is about regaining trust. The CDU also allowed AFD to sit in 16 national parliaments today. "But we can make them disappear again," said Spahn. It has always been clear that the CDU is opposed to right-wing and left-wing extremists.

He has been in politics for 20 years to defend the "relaxed serenity" towards minorities in Germany – against the pressure of the left and the right, as well as against other "reactionary cultures" with their supremacy over the 39; man. There should be no "further" in the CDU, neither nostalgia nor return to the past, but a real courage to start again. "That's the goal," Spahn said.

Election of December 7

The new party leader is elected on December 7 at a party congress in Hamburg by about a thousand delegates. Regional conferences are therefore an important mood test for the three candidates based on the CDU.

The leader of the CDU, Angela Merkel, announced that after 18 years she no longer wanted to be a presidential candidate, but as Chancellor she wanted to remain in office until the end of the legislature. . The election of the new president marks not only the end of an era for the party, but also a direction for the future of the CDU.

Spahn is considered a man of the conservative wing, Merz as an economic liberal and the confidant of Merkel Kramp-Karrenbauer as a representative of a middle party. Recently, however, the three candidates tried to broaden their profile in interviews. In addition to Merz, 63, and 56-year-old Kramp-Karrenbauer, Spahn, 38, is also presented as a real strength of renewal.