Armin Laschet, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader, during a news conference following a caucus meeting of Germany's ruling coalition in Berlin, Germany, on Sunday, April 11, 2021. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)
Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union signaled its broad support for party chairman Armin Laschet to run as the conservative bloc’s candidate for chancellor in September’s election.
The party’s leadership committee unanimously backed Laschet at a meeting Monday in Berlin, Hesse State Premier Volker Bouffier told reporters. The decision sets up a potential clash with the CDU’s smaller Bavarian sister-party, the CSU, whose chairman Markus Soeder also wants to run to replace Merkel. The CSU leadership is meeting later on Monday, and Soeder will hold a news conference after that in Munich.
Most members of the CDU’s 22-member leadership committee spoke at the meeting and all backed Laschet’s bid for chancellor, according to a participant
Handing the candidacy to Laschet, the premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, could be a risky move. Opinion polls suggest Soeder is significantly more popular among voters and would garner more support for the conservative bloc in the election.
The CDU and the CSU traditionally field a joint candidate and their alliance has been a bedrock in German politics since the end of World War II. If the CSU declines to support Laschet, the 245-member joint parliamentary caucus of the two parties could weigh in in the coming days.
With Laschet now in pole position to secure the conservative nomination and the bloc still leading in polls, he will have a strong chance of taking over from Merkel after she steps aside following 16 years running Europe’s biggest economy.
As chancellor, he would inherit a raft of challenges, ranging from dealing with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and managing a shift to greener technologies, to shaping Germany’s relations with its European and NATO partners and tackling the threats posed by China and Russia.
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Most members of the CDU’s 22-member leadership committee spoke at the meeting and all backed Laschet’s bid for chancellor, according to a participant. Several officials made it clear that current polls shouldn’t be the basis for the candidacy decision, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
Soeder — who formally declared his candidacy on Sunday — has played up his popularity, saying it’s important that the conservative candidate has broad backing among party members and the general public.
CDU officials downplayed that at the meeting, instead arguing in favor of Laschet’s ability to distill different views into a common party line, the participant said, adding that there was confidence that Laschet could devise a winning strategy.
While the backing bolsters Laschet’s bid, he still needs to get the CSU on board and that likely means forcing Soeder to stand down. The final decision will need to be a joint one, according to the participant.
“We determined that both of us are suitable and both of us are ready,” Soeder told reporters Sunday in Berlin. “Whatever the decision turns out to be, we will work very well personally together.”
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Pressure is growing to resolve the showdown. CDU-CSU caucus leader Ralph Brinkhaus said Monday in an interview with ARD television that he wants a final decision to be made this week so that the conservative bloc can forge ahead with its campaign.
Merkel, 66, has stayed out of the contest, even though Laschet is from her party. At the meeting, she again made it clear that she won’t take sides, the participant said.
Markus Soeder arrives at the Reichstag building ahead of a news conference following a caucus meeting of Germany's ruling coalition in Berlin, April 11. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)
While Merkel and Soeder clashed during Germany’s 2015 refugee crisis, he has backed her push for restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Laschet, meanwhile, has been criticized by Merkel for a lax response in his home state, but he’s still expected to carry on her policies and maintain her political style.
National polls put support for the CDU-CSU at between 26 percent and 28 percent. While that’s down from the almost 33% of the vote in the last election in 2017, it would be enough to win and seek to form a ruling coalition.
The Social Democrats, Merkel’s coalition partner, have also declined, while the Greens, who took 8.9 percent last time, are polling as high as 23 percent, increasing the chances that they’ll be part of the next government.
While approval polls favor Soeder, only two candidates from socially conservative Bavaria have run for chancellor in the post-war period and both lost.
Neither Franz Josef Strauss or Edmund Stoiber were able to convince enough voters that they would work to promote Germany’s broader interests rather than those of the wealthy southern state.
