There are currently many open questions in the CDU. The most important concerns their leadership and the candidacy for chancellor. It decides whether the Union that co-founded this republic and continues to shape it to this day can remain the strongest force.
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It will be one of the most difficult decisions the CDU has ever had to make.
This week showed once again how big the footsteps are in which one of the possible – so far only male – successors will follow. The reaction of the acting chancellor was exemplary Angela Merkel on the racist attack in Hanau. Merkel’s message was clear and unambiguous.
Many AfD politicians dismissed the attack as the work of a mentally ill person in order to distract them from the extreme right-wing attitude of the perpetrator or to talk them down to a psychological problem. The Chancellor made no excuse for this. She placed the deed in its social context and gave clear reasons for its cause: “Racism is poison, hatred is poison.”
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The real party leader
Merkel gave her party’s line with her statement, even though she had not headed the CDU for quite some time. It is the second time in a very short time that Merkel takes a clear position in an important phase of her fourth chancellorship when it comes to the dangers that threaten living together in the colorful and diverse society that has long been the Federal Republic.
At the beginning of February, the Thuringian CDU with the AfD faction of the nationalistic right wing Bjorn Höcke Chose the FDP candidate Thomas Kemmerich as Prime Minister, she called that from far away South Africa “unforgivable”. The CDU chairwoman had Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer previously expressed similarly clearly, but the Chancellor’s word had more weight. Merkel’s sentence revealed how little strength her successor still had in the party office. Kramp-Karrenbauer, also worn down by the position war of her CDU friends in Erfurt, took the consequences a little later and announced the withdrawal from the party leadership.
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In this troubled time for the Union and the Republic, the Chancellor once again comes into focus. There is certainly something to complain about in Merkel’s political style, the wait and the hesitation. However, this is sometimes necessary in order to survive in politics and to enable decisions. Speed is not always synonymous with success. Sometimes she may take her time. But when it comes to questions of elementary importance, Merkel still exudes remarkable security.
Sensitivity to German history
When it comes to events that require confession against the background of German history and its Nazi past, it stays on course. In her more than 14-year term, now longer than that of Konrad Adenauer, Angela Merkel has acquired a beneficial sensitivity to the responsibility of German politics against the background of history. This is not a matter of course, and it is not self-evident that each of their potential successors recognizes this responsibility just as clearly. The CDU will also have to include the question of this ability in its leadership decision.
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The Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther, known for his occasionally somewhat offbeat statements, recently suggested that Merkel should continue to be the driving force in the upcoming election campaign. “We can benefit from the sympathy that she has among the people,” said the CDU politician. Günther’s interjection was laughed at many times as the voice of a regional politician who wanted to attract attention. Merkel should start again? That would be presumptuous. However, Günther suggested no revision of the announced withdrawal from the chancellorship.
Merkel herself knows that her time is running out and her party will have to go to one of the most important elections in the history of the Federal Republic with new staff in 2021. Günther’s interjection says something about the qualities of this Chancellor, who can still have an impact far beyond the Union’s supporters.
Her clear words on the racist attack in Hanau have shown that Merkel’s successor, whoever it may be, will need an equally clear compass in the tougher times when this republic has long since arrived. Angela Merkel has set standards.
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