Armin Laschet on Saturday said he would step down as premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in the wake of national elections that saw his center-right Christian Democrats (CDU) score their worst-ever poll result, ending a 16-year run at the top.
“The responsibility for this result lies with me as leader and candidate for the chancellorship,” Laschet told the CDU’s Young Christian Democrats Congress in Münster.
He said the conservative bloc of the CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), should now prepare to take on the role of opposition in the Bundestag, which it last held in 2005. He also called for his party to renew itself, both by a generational change in leadership and by giving women greater involvement.
The designated replacement for Laschet in NRW is current state Transport Minister Hendrik Wüst, who at 46 would be the state’s youngest premier.
Hendrik Wüst has been designated as the new premier of NRW
What happened at the national elections?
The CDU garnered just 24.1% of the vote in the September ballot, losing out to Germany’s other major party, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), which has for years served as its junior partner in a so-called grand coalition.
On Friday, the SPD announced it was starting formal talks to form a new coalition government with the center-left Greens and the business-focused Free Democrats (FDP), who came third and fourth respectively.
If the talks succeed, the SPD’s Olaf Scholz is highly likely to become Angela Merkel’s successor as chancellor.
The SPD’s Olaf Scholz is likely to be Germany’s next chancellor
What happens now with the CDU?
Laschet has already expressed a willingness to step down as party chairman in addition to quitting his job as state premier, but says he will remain until a replacement is selected.
Normally, the leader is chosen by delegates of the 400,000 party members, but there have been calls for the vote to involve the whole membership, amid accusations that the party had lost touch with its base.
Who’s who in the new CDU?
Jens Spahn (born 1980)
The Rhinelander probably thought he’d been shifted to a low-profile post to keep him quiet when he became health minister in 2018. Few could guess that a pandemic would make him one of Germany’s most prominent politicians — which may be a double-edged sword for his career. One way or another, he’s battle-hardened. He has also challenged for the leadership of the Christian Democrats (CDU) before.
Who’s who in the new CDU?
Daniel Günther (born 1973)
As premier of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, Günther has led a center-right coalition with the Free Democrats and the Greens for five years. His politics largely align with the liberal positions of those parties, at least when it comes to issues such as same-sex marriage. But for now he seems happy in his regional role: He has already ruled out running for the CDU chairmanship this time.
Who’s who in the new CDU?
Paul Ziemiak (born 1985)
Born in Poland, Ziemiak has become an influential figure in the CDU since he rose to the post of general secretary in 2018, having previously led the party’s youth organization, the Junge Union (JU), for six years. He is now a force in the party, with a stance that chimes well with the modern profile it is aiming at: liberal socially, conservative economically, and not averse to populist rhetoric.
Who’s who in the new CDU?
Tobias Hans (born 1978)
At 43, Hans is the youngest serving head of a German state government, leading a grand coalition with the Social Democrats in the small western state of Saarland since 2018, where his power is likely to be tested in an election in March. He is also a member of the German-French Friendship Group set up by the upper house of the German parliament, the Bundesrat.
Who’s who in the new CDU?
Tilman Kuban (born 1987)
The successor to Ziemiak as head of the JU since 2019, Kuban studied law and worked as a talent scout for the football club Hannover 96 before entering politics. He will also be representing the CDU in the next Bundestag, having won a place via the party’s Lower Saxony list. Kuban is considered one of the hard-line conservatives in the CDU, having called for a tougher asylum policy in 2015.
Who’s who in the new CDU?
Silvia Breher (born 1973)
Silvia Breher gained national attention when chancellor candidate Armin Laschet put her in his “Team of the Future” during his election campaign. Her brief: family policy. Since 2019, she has been the CDU’s vice chairwoman, succeeding Ursula von der Leyen, now president of the European Commission. Breher has been in the Bundestag since 2017, and specializes in agriculture policy.
Who’s who in the new CDU?
Sepp Müller (born 1989)
Müller became a CDU Bundestag member in 2017, at the age of just 28, and appears to be a popular candidate in his hometown of Wittenberg, eastern Germany, where he has now twice won his seat directly. In fact, he got the best result of any CDU MP in the east. That might be thanks to the fact that he has been a vocal defender of his region’s industries.
Who’s who in the new CDU?
Diana Kinnert (born 1991)
The political consultant and writer became the Bundestag’s youngest-ever chief of staff when she ran the parliamentary vice president’s office at the age of 24. A lesbian, the daughter of a Filipino immigrant and formerly active in Greenpeace and Amnesty International, Kinnert does not fit the profile of a CDU politician, which is perhaps why senior party figures have engaged her as an adviser. Several of the party figures who are in the running for the position spoke at the congress.
On Saturday, Health Minister Jens Spahn said he wanted to “shape this new CDU,” speaking of a “crisis of cohesion” in the party
The ultra-conservative finance expert Friedrich Merz, who competed with Laschet to be the party’s candidate for chancellor and lost, on Friday warned that the CDU was “on the verge of collapse.” In a speech that was especially well-received, Carsten Linnemann, the deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, called on the conservatives “to tackle the really hot topics,” such as the future pensions system. He said the status of the CDU as a mainstream party was at stake.
Foreign affairs expert Norbert Röttgen and CDU/CSU parliamentary chairman Ralph Brinkhaus, who are both also considered potential party leaders, also attended the congress.
The annual CDU youth congress has no role in deciding the leadership of the CDU but potential leaders will have been under scrutiny for their performance at it.
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