The surprise resignation of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chosen one, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK) from the leadership of the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the German Chancellor’s 2021 nomination, early last week creates new data and a prolonged period of internal party crisis for the Christian Democrats, a year before the Elections in Germany (2021) to claim the Chancellery.
by Thanos S. Chonthrogiannis
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The reasons for the resignation of the AKK
The reasons for Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer resignation are not one but they are an accumulated set of misses and false statements since taking over the Leadership of the CDU.
The reason for overflowing the glass of all these failures was the fact that in the recent elections held in Thuringia, a state of East Germany, the candidate of the Free Democrats was named Prime Minister based on the votes of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the CDU.
Next, CDU and its candidate then attributed the AKK to a delayed and sluggish response and intervention in favour of the party’s candidate, resulting in the vote for the CDU candidate being lost.
This inanimate political behaviour by the AKK has been added to a series of wronged and misguided initiatives such as its assessments of the results of the European elections and the offensive comparisons of homosexuals and pedophiles, proving that the AKK was simply a transitional leader for the CDU and not the leader who would attach a new political and ideological stigma by leading the CDU to electoral victories in both Germany and the EU.
Candidates for the CDU leadership
The main contenders to date for the CDU leadership are Friedrich Merz, who intends, by taking over the party leadership, to remove the CDU from the center of the ideological spectrum in order to repatriate the votes taken by the AfD from the right wing of the CDU.
Moreover, its aim is to make the CDU, through its political and ideological stigma a multi-level party, which will house votes on every side and political expression of society, i.e. ultraconservatives, supporters of the social state, religious people, etc. even supporters of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s migration policy to date.
Another challenger to the CDU leadership is the very successful current President of the German Parliament and the highly successful Minister of Finance in the History of Germany, Wolfgang Schäuble, a fond and robust pillar of fiscal discipline in both Germany and the Eurozone.
Wolfgang Schäuble and Chancellor Merkel were the two pillars of economic prosperity that Germany has experienced over the past decade. The choice of Wolfgang Schäuble to the Leadership of the CDU and the Chancellery respectively would lead not only Germany but also the Eurozone to a new type of fiscal discipline to finally implement a common eurozone budget that would have the potential to pursue a common fiscal and tax policy in the Eurozone. As a European “Roosevelt”, he could lead a New Deal for the Eurozone.
Angela Merkel and Wolfgang Schäuble’s forced policy of approving financial support packages for the weaker southern Eurozone economies (Greece, Cyprus) coupled with Angela Merkel’s recent policy on the refugee issue for Germany has led to the AfD’s emergence on the German political scene.
Other contenders for the CDU’s leadership are the successful in managing the nCor-V epidemic, Health Minister Jens Georg Spahn and the Prime Minister of the country’s largest state North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet.
The questions to be answered
The new CDU leader, who will emerge from the party congress in December 2020, should have convincing answers as to what the CDU’s new political and ideological stigma will be in the upcoming elections in 2021 to claim the Chancellery.
More specifically, this new political and ideological background should provide answers to what the new CDU policy will be after chancellor Angela Merkel’s era. Will it be ultraconservative, multi-pronged or will there be continuity on the political path of centrist-moderate politics that incumbent Chancellor Angela Merkel has carved for years?
What will happen about the AfD and what proposed policies will propose the CDU in order to go back all these disgruntled voters to the CDU who ended up in the AfD’s arms?
What policies will be cancelled the AfD policies? Will the CDU dare to adopt the AfD’s positions or propose opposing policies toward AfD’s policies that would nullify AfD positions?
How will the CDU deal with a sudden cartel after the elections between the Left and the AfD to claim and “seize” the Chancellery, forming between them a Coalition government? Coalition government between the Left and the Far Right that the Eurozone and the EU have shown in other member-countries in recent years.
What will be the political-ideological agenda that will persuade CDU Social Democrats partners (CSU) to remain partners in the hitherto grand governing coalition between CDU-CSU?
What is Germany’s position on the common euro area budget and the greater surrender of powers to Brussels that will lead to a common fiscal, tax and economic policy in the Eurozone?
Persuasive answers to such questions will highlight not only the new CDU leader but also the new Germany in the EU and the world.
