BERLIN (AP) – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right party elects new leader this weekend, a decision that will help shape the choice of German voters for her successor at the helm of the Union’s largest economy European after 16 years in office.
Merkel, now 66, has led Germany and Europe through a series of crises since taking office in 2005. But she said more than two years ago that she would not seek a fifth term as chancellor.
Now his Christian Democratic Union party is looking for its second new leader since he left that role in 2018. This person will run in the chancellery in the German elections on September 26 or will have a big word on who is running.
Current leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced his resignation last February after imposing his authority on the party. The decision on his successor was repeatedly delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Finally, the CDU decided to hold an online convention this weekend.
Delegates from Germany’s strongest party can choose on Saturday from three main candidates who differ markedly, at least in terms of style. There are no clear favorites.
Friedrich Merz, 65, would mark a break from the Merkel era. The party has dominated the central field, ending military recruitment, allowing, if not, same-sex marriage, and allowing a large number of migrants, among other things.
He has a more traditionally conservative and business-friendly image and recently wrote in Der Spiegel magazine that “the CDU must come out, whether it wants to or not, from the shadow of Angela Merkel.”
Merz has said he wants to give a “political home” to disillusioned conservatives, but will not move “not a millimeter” towards the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
This is Merz’s second candidacy for party leadership after he last lost for the last time against Kramp-Karrenbauer, considered Merkel’s favorite candidate. He led the center-right group in parliament from 2000 to 2002, when Merkel removed him from his job and left parliament in 2009, then as a lawyer and chairing the supervisory board of the German branch of the BlackRock investments.
Merz has tried to portray his decade out of politics as a fortress, but has no government experience. Armin Laschet, the governor of Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, offers this.
Laschet, 59, is a more liberal figure, elected governor in 2017 in a traditionally center-left fortress and considered likely to continue Merkel’s centrist approach. In a debate among candidates last week, he said: “What I bring is the experience of government, the leadership of a great state, the balance between different interests and, perhaps that doesn’t hurt for a leader of the CDU, having won an election “.
The third candidate, Norbert Roettgen, lost the 2012 state election in North Rhine-Westphalia. Merkel later fired him as German environment minister. Roettgen, 55, says he has learned from that experience. He has been proclaimed a candidate for the “modern center” that focuses on issues such as the fight against climate change.
Roettgen, now chairman of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, has long been considered an outsider, but polls have shown him gaining ground among CDU supporters. Last week he suggested it would be a nice alternative to Merz and Laschet sponsors.
“I’m not in a camp,” he said. “I am in favor of everyone and I believe that those who do not vote for me will be able to live with me and accept me if I am elected.”
Laschet is the only candidate who had to make big decisions in the coronavirus pandemic. This is both a strength and a weakness: he has raised his profile, but has gained mixed views, especially as a vocal advocate of the easing of restrictions after the first phase of the pandemic.
The CDU as a whole has benefited from the coronavirus crisis, and led a strong poll to an unusually uncertain election year thanks to good reviews of Merkel’s pandemic leadership. It is uncertain whether any of these candidates can achieve these qualifications until the election. Saturday’s decision will not be the last word of the center-right candidate for chancellor.
This is partly because the CDU is part of the Union bloc, which also includes its sister party, the Bavarian Christian Social Union only. The two sides will decide together who will choose Merkel’s job, although no timetable has been set.
CSU leader Markus Soeder is considered a potential candidate. The Bavarian governor has gained stature during the pandemic as a staunch supporter of harsh restrictions on curbing the coronavirus, and his poll ratings exceed those of CDU candidates.
And some consider Health Minister Jens Spahn, who is running to become deputy director of the CDU under Laschet, to be a possible candidate.
Whoever runs will face Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, the candidate of the center-left Social Democrats, currently a member of Merkel’s junior coalition, as well as a candidate of the Green environmentalists, who plan to run for chancellor.
1,001 delegates will choose the leader of the CDU. If no candidate wins the majority, there will be a second round. Under German law, the online result must be confirmed by a postcard, the results are expected on 22 January.
The plan is for only Saturday’s winning candidate to participate in that vote.
Unity “is the highest priority for everyone,” outgoing leader Kramp-Karrenbauer told the dpa news agency. “And it’s also my big request to the party.”