German election: Embattled CDU candidate Laschet presents policy team

The center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party CSU have been seeing an unprecedented fall in opinion polls, ahead of the general election on September 26.

The decline has been blamed largely on Armin Laschet,the top candidate to succeed Angela Merkel, who is standing down after 16 years in office.

The CDU’s chairman, Laschet has come across as vague and indecisive, his campaign has been lackluster and marred by slip-ups.

Who is on the ‘future team?’

At an event in Berlin that was televised live on Friday, a visibly nervous Laschet introduced a team of four men and four women: Terrorism expert Peter Neumann, CDU Vice President Silvia Breher, Schleswig-Holstein Education Minister Karin Prien, Deputy Parliamentary Group Leader Andreas Jung, music manager and Bundestag candidate Joe Chialo (CDU), Saxony’s Education Minister Barbara Klepsch (CDU), and Digital State Minister Dorothee Bär (CSU).

Friedrich Merz has support from the right wing of the CDU/CSU conservative bloc

Former CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz is the most prominent member. The former Blackwater CEO and old Merkel adversary threw his weight behind Laschet, who had beat Merz in the race for CDU chairman in January.

High-profile terrorism and security expert Peter Neumann is new to politics. In 2017, he also served as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Special Representatives on Countering Violent Extremism. Neumann called Laschet a “politician who really listens, who is really interested in issues,” he said. “And I really hope he will be the next German chancellor.”

Music manager Joe Chialo was born in 1970 in Bonn as the son of a Tanzanian diplomat. In the ’90s, he was a member of the Green Party. “I am not the token black guy,” said Chialo in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper. During Friday’s presentation, Chialo stressed his intention to promote arts and culture, a sector that has greatly suffered under the COVID restrictions.

Barbara Klepsch, a Dresden local politician, was named as the point person for the development of eastern Germany — the former communist GDR —  a region that is lagging behind economically and is lacking equal representation in German politics as well as big business. 

Campaigning enters ‘hot phase’

It was emphasized in the CDU/CSU that the team was not the Cabinet. Laschet has said repeatedly that he intended to focus on topics rather than personalities: Conservative family values, education, digitization, and the economy he identified as among the most important.

The presentation of the team comes at a time when the election campaign has entered what is referred to as the “hot phase.” At the end of his presentation, Laschet showed his fighting spirit.: “I am keen to see the team the Social Democrats come up with,” he said in reference to the center-left party that has taken the lead in polls.

Laschet also made a reference to a possible left-wing coalition of SPD, Greens, and the communist Left Party —a staple of all conservative election campaigns, that is regularly countered with accusations of fear-mongering.

But postal voting has already begun. And with an expected 50% of voters expected to opt for mail-in voting amid the COVID pandemic, it is unclear how much he will be able to turn things around.

• German election 2021: Governing coalition options

  Deciphering the color code

  The center-right Christian Democrat CDU and its Bavarian sister party CSU are symbolized by the color black. The center-left Social Democrat SPD is red, as is the communist Left Party. The pro-free market Free Democrats’ (FDP) color is yellow. And the Greens are self-explanatory. German media refer to the color combinations and national flags using them as shorthand for political combinations.

• German election 2021: Governing coalition options

  Black, red, green — the Kenya coalition

  A combination of center-right Christian Democrats and center-left Social Democrats has been in power for eight years. What was termed a “grand coalition” of two big tent parties will probably no longer have a majority. Taking in the Green Party would secure a comfortable majority. But with the SPD and CDU running neck-and-neck it’s not clear which party will be strongest — and name the chancellor.

• German election 2021: Governing coalition options

  Black, yellow and green — the Jamaica coalition

  The center-right Christian Democrats have often teamed up with the much smaller pro-free market Free Democrats (FDP) at the state and the national level over the years. Taking in the Greens to form a three-way coalition would be an option attractive to many in the CDU. But the Greens and the FDP do not make easy bedfellows, so a similar attempt failed after the last election in 2017.

• German election 2021: Governing coalition options

  Black, red, yellow — the Germany coalition

  The center-right CDU and the center-left SPD plus the pro-free market FDP. This combination would easily clear the 50% threshhold in parliament. It would be the preferred option for business leaders and high income earners. But if the SPD remains ahead of the conservatives, the order would be flipped, putting the SPD in the lead so we’d see red, black, yellow. A very different ballgame.

• German election 2021: Governing coalition options

  Red, red, green

  The Social Democrats teaming up with the Greens and the Left Party is a specter the conservatives like to raise when they perform badly in the polls. Such a combination might just about clinch 50% — if the Left Party manages to clear the 5% hurdle to get into parliament. But the SPD and Left Party have a difficult history. And the Left’s extreme foreign policy positions would hamper negotiations.

• German election 2021: Governing coalition options

  Red ,yellow, green — a ‘traffic light’ coalition

  The free-market-oriented liberal FDP, has in the past generally ruled out federal coalitions sandwiched between the Social Democrats, and the Greens. But this year the FDP is not ruling out any options. Germany’s traditional kingmaker party is above all keen to return to power — no matter in which color combination.

  Author: Rina Goldenberg

Reactions

Anton Hofreiter, leader of the Green Party parliamentary group, was not impressed with the lineup. He spoke of “helpless actionism.” Friedrich Merz, Hofreiter told the Rheinische Post newspaper, “stands for regression and an economic policy of the past century.”

#Zukunftsteam quickly started trending on German media, with commentators heaping scorn on the line-up they saw as out of touch with reality.

“How can a party that’s been in power for 16 years credibly speak of the need ‘for more climate protection,’ ‘innovation,’ etc? Voters don’t have amnesia,” wrote POLITICO Europe correspondent Matt Karnitschnig on Twitter.

While you’re here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society, with an eye toward understanding this year’s elections and beyond. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing, to stay on top of developments as Germany enters the post-Merkel era.

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