BERLIN (AP) – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right party will elect a new leader this weekend, a decision that will help shape the choice of German voters for her successor at the helm of the European Union’s largest economy after her 16-year tenure.
Merkel, now 66, has led Germany and Europe through a series of crises since she took office in 2005. But more than two years ago, she said she will not seek a fifth term as chancellor.
Now her Christian Democratic Union party is seeking its second new leader since stepping down from that role in 2018. That person will run for the September 26 elections in Germany or has a great say in who runs.
Current leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced her resignation last February after she failed to impose her authority on the party. A decision about her successor has been repeatedly delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Ultimately, the CDU decided to hold an online convention this weekend.
Delegates from Germany’s strongest party can choose from three main candidates on Saturday who are clearly different from each other, at least in style. There is no clear favorite.
Friedrich Merz, 65, would be a breakthrough for the Merkel era. The party dominated the center, ended military service, enabled, if not embraced, same-sex marriage, including admitting large numbers of migrants.
He has a more traditionally conservative and pro-corporate image and recently wrote in Der Spiegel magazine that “the CDU, whether it wants to or not, must step out of Angela Merkel’s shadow.”
Merz has said he wants to give a “political home” to disillusioned conservatives, but he will not move “one millimeter” to the far-right Alternative for Germany party.
This is Merz’s second bid for the party leadership after he narrowly lost last time to Kramp-Karrenbauer, who was considered Merkel’s favorite candidate. He led the center-right faction in parliament from 2000 to 2002, when Merkel pushed him out of that job, and left parliament in 2009 – later practicing as a lawyer and leading the supervisory board of the German arm of investment manager BlackRock.
Merz has tried to portray his decade out of politics as a force, but lacks government experience. Armin Laschet, the governor of Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, offers that.
Laschet, 59, is a more liberal figure, elected governor in 2017 in a traditional center-left stronghold, and is considered likely to continue Merkel’s centrist approach. In a debate among candidates last week, he said, “What I bring is government experience, the leadership of a great state, weighing different interests and – this may not hurt for a CDU leader – winning an election.”
The third contender, Norbert Roettgen, lost the 2012 state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia. Merkel subsequently fired him as the German Environment Minister. Roettgen, 55, says he learned from that experience. He has declared himself a candidate for the ‘modern center’, which emphasizes issues such as the fight against climate change.
Roettgen, now chair of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee, has long been considered the outsider, but surveys show he is gaining ground among CDU supporters. He suggested last week that he would be a tasty alternative for both Merz and Laschet backers.
“I’m not in one camp,” he said. “I stand for everyone, and I think those who don’t vote for me will be able to live with me and accept me if I am elected.”
Laschet is the only candidate who has had to make big decisions in the coronavirus pandemic. That’s both a strength and a weakness: it has boosted his profile, but he has received mixed reviews, particularly as an outspoken advocate of relaxing restrictions after the initial phase of the pandemic.
The CDU as a whole has benefited from the coronavirus crisis and a strong poll has led to an unusually uncertain election year thanks to good reviews for Merkel’s pandemic leadership. It is uncertain whether any of these candidates could take those assessments to the election. Saturday’s decision won’t be the final word on the center-right candidate for chancellor.
That’s partly because the CDU is part of the Union bloc, which also includes its sister party, the Bavarian-only Christian Social Union. The two sides will decide together who will run for Merkel’s job, although no timetable has been set.
CSU leader Markus Soeder is considered a potential candidate himself. The Bavarian governor has gained prestige during the pandemic as a strong supporter of strict restrictions to curb the coronavirus, and his opinion polls surpass those of the CDU candidates.
And some consider Health Minister Jens Spahn, who is running to become the deputy leader of the CDU under Laschet, as a possible candidate.
Those running will compete with Treasury Secretary Olaf Scholz, the candidate of the struggling center-left Social Democrats, currently Merkel’s junior coalition partner and a candidate of the environmentalist The Greens, who plan to go to the chancellery for the first time. to go.
The CDU leader is elected by 1,001 delegates. If no candidate wins a majority, there is a second round. According to German law, the online result must be confirmed by a note, the results of which are expected on January 22.
The plan is that only Saturday’s winning candidate will appear on that ballot.
Unity “is the top priority for everyone,” outgoing leader Kramp-Karrenbauer told dpa news agency. “And it is also my great request to the party.”