BERLIN (AP) – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right party is choosing a new leader this weekend, a decision that will help shape the choice of German voters for her successor in charge of the largest economy in the European Union after her term. 16 years old.
Merkel, now 66, has led Germany and Europe through a series of crises since taking office in 2005. But she said more than two years ago that she will not seek a fifth term as chancellor.
Now her party, the Christian Democratic Union, is looking for her second new leader since she left office in 2018. That person will run for chancellor in Germany on September 26 or have a big say on who runs.
Current leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced his resignation last February, after not imposing its authority on the party. The decision on his successor was repeatedly delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Eventually, the CDU decided to hold an online convention this weekend.
Delegates from Germany’s strongest party can choose on Saturday from three main candidates who differ significantly, at least in style. There is no clear favorite.
Friedrich Merz, 65, would mark a break with the Merkel era. The party dominated the central terrain, ending military recruitment, allowing, if not embracing same-sex marriage, and allowing large numbers of migrants, among other things.
He has a more traditionally conservative and pro-business image, and recently wrote in Der Spiegel magazine that “the CDU must, whether it wants to or not, step out of Angela Merkel’s shadow.”
Merz said he wants to give disillusioned conservatives a “political home”, but he will not move “a millimeter” towards the far-right Alternative Party for Germany.
This is Merz’s second candidacy for the party leadership after narrowly losing the last time to Kramp-Karrenbauer, considered Merkel’s favorite candidate. He led the center-right group in parliament from 2000 to 2002, when Merkel ousted him from office, and left parliament in 2009 – later acting as a lawyer and leading the supervisory board of the German branch of investment manager BlackRock.
Merz tried to portray his decade outside politics as a force, but has no experience in government. Armin Laschet, the governor of Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, offers this.
Laschet, 59, is a more liberal figure, elected governor in 2017 in a traditionally center-left stronghold and considered likely to continue Merkel’s centrist approach. In a debate between the candidates last week, he said: “What I bring is experience of government, the leadership of a large state, balancing different interests and – this may not harm a CDU leader – having won an election”.
The third candidate, Norbert Roettgen, lost the 2012 state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia. Merkel subsequently dismissed him as Germany’s environment minister. Roettgen, 55, says he learned from that experience. He called himself a candidate for the “modern center” that emphasizes issues such as combating climate change.
Roettgen, now chairman of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee, was considered a stranger, but polls showed he was gaining ground among CDU supporters. He suggested last week that it would be a palatable alternative for sponsors of Merz and Laschet.
“I am not in a field,” he said. “I defend everyone and I think that those who do not vote for me will be able to live with me and accept me if I am elected.”
Laschet is the only candidate who had to make major decisions in the coronavirus pandemic. This is both a strength and a weakness: it raised his profile, but he received mixed reviews, notably as a vocal advocate of easing restrictions after the first phase of the pandemic.
The CDU as a whole benefited from the coronavirus crisis, taking a strong lead in the polls in an unusually uncertain election year thanks to good reviews for Merkel’s pandemic leadership. Whether any of these candidates could carry these ratings through to the election is uncertain. Saturday’s decision will not be the final word on the center-right chancellor candidate.
This is partly due to the fact that the CDU is part of the Union bloc, which also includes its sister party, the Christian Social Union exclusively from Bavaria. The two parties will decide together who will run for Merkel, although no timetable has been set.
CSU leader Markus Soeder is considered a potential candidate. The Bavarian governor gained stature during the pandemic as a strong advocate of harsh restrictions to contain the coronavirus, and his assessments surpassed those of CDU candidates.
And some consider Health Minister Jens Spahn, who is running to become CDU’s deputy leader under Laschet, a possible candidate.
Those who run will face Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, the candidate of the center-left Social Democratic fighters, currently Merkel’s junior coalition partner and also a candidate for green environmentalists, who plan to make their first candidacy for the chancellery.
The CDU leader will be chosen by 1,001 delegates. If no candidate obtains the majority, there will be a second round. According to German law, the online result must be confirmed by postal vote, the results of which are expected on 22 January.
The plan is that only the winning candidate on Saturday will be on the ballot.
Unity “is the top priority for everyone,” outgoing leader Kramp-Karrenbauer told the dpa news agency. “And it is also my big request for the party.”