Coronavirus forces Christian Democrats to postpone crucial conference

Germany’s Christian Democrats (CDU) on Monday postponed their already-delayed party conference that would seek a new party leader and potentially a new German chancellor after two decades with Angela Merkel at the rudder.

The December 4 event in Stuttgart will be delayed pending an improvement in the COVID-19 situation in Germany, after a week in which Germany recorded more fresh cases than any other on record. CDU officials hope to be in a better position to decide when a conference can go ahead — and whether it can be an in-person event or must take place via videoconference — by the middle of December, or possibly a month later. 

Read more:  20 years since Merkel took helm of Germany’s Christian Democrats

CDU Secretary General Paul Ziemiak said party officials were looking into whether holding a virtual conference and postal ballot would be legally permissible, while also monitoring pandemic-related developments to see if a physical conference would prove possible in the end.

Merz cries foul at delay

One of the three candidates to replace Merkel, Friedrich Merz, had appealed against the delay. Merz claimed a segment of the “party establishment” was against him becoming CDU chairman, saying the conference delay had “little or absolute nothing to do” with concerns about delegates potentially spreading the coronavirus.

Merz is deemed the most conservative of the three hopefuls, he’s also trying to return to politics after several lucrative years out working in the private sector. 

CDU members have already voted once, back in 2018, but victor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer withdrew from the role earlier this year

Other candidates approve

The other two candidates to succeed Merkel, foreign affairs expert Norbert Röttgen and North Rhine-Wesphalia’s state premier Armin Laschet, both said they supported the delay.

Röttgen said that given the “bitter” unpredictability of the pandemic, Germans expected the CDU to be a “stability factor in difficult times.”

The party’s succession convention should take place in the European spring, he said, “preferably at a party convention and, if necessary, by postal vote.

Economy Minister Peter Altmaier, a former head of the chancellery office, and Bavarian state premier Markus Söder of the allied CSU had also both called for a postponement.

2021 is a major election year in Germany, culminating with the national polls on a Sunday between August and October that’s yet to be determined formally. Prior to that vote, regional elections will take place in Rhineland Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt.

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  Germany’s CDU: Here’s who could replace Angela Merkel

  Friedrich Merz: Longstanding Merkel critic

  The ex-leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag withdrew from frontline politics in 2009. He made a comeback in 2018 when he joined the CDU leadership race, losing narrowly to AKK. Merz recently quit his post as chairman at BlackRock, the world’s largest investment management firm, to “help the conservative party renew itself.” He appeals to the CDU’s conservative members.

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  Germany’s CDU: Here’s who could replace Angela Merkel

  Jens Spahn: Young contender backs Laschet

  The 40-year-old surprised political onlookers on February 25, when he stood beside Laschet to support the state premier’s candidacy announcement. Spahn, who is openly gay, is popular in the CDU’s conservative wing. “It is about the future of the country and the future of our party,” Spahn said on his decision to back Laschet.

• 
  

  Germany’s CDU: Here’s who could replace Angela Merkel

  Armin Laschet: Affable state premier

  Laschet, a journalist and former European Parliament member, has headed Germany’s most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017. The liberal-conservative is a Merkel supporter — and backed her in the 2015 refugee crisis. Another “Pizza Connection” member, he is known for being able to work with both the FDP and Greens, which may be the most likely coalition setup in the next government.

• 
  

  Germany’s CDU: Here’s who could replace Angela Merkel

  Norbert Röttgen: Potential Greens ally

  Röttgen served as environment minister under Merkel from 2009-2012. He now heads the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee. He designed Germany’s energy transition plan and is seen as someone who could work with the Greens, the party polling second. He was also part of the “Pizza Connection,” a group of CDU and Greens MPs that held meetings in the ’90s and early 2000s.

  Author: Rina Goldenberg

Lengthy drama over Merkel succession

The chances are high, though it is not guaranteed, that Merkel’s successor as CDU chair would also be the CDU/CSU candidate for chancellor in the federal ballot next year. Some are treating Bavaria’s Söder of the CSU as a credible rival for this role from the CDU’s sister party.

Following in Merkel’s footsteps has already proven something of a poisoned chalice. An early effort from the CDU to name a successor, Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, and to set her up as chancellor candidate ultimately backfired. Kramp-Karrenbauer withdrew from the position in February this year, reopening the race.

Despite continued speculation, Merkel has repeatedly rejected rumors that she might seek a fifth term after all.

ipj/msh (Reuters, dpa, AFP)

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