CDU district chairmen are heading into a two-day conference in Berlin with sharp criticism of party leader Friedrich Merz, amid weak poll ratings, election losses and dissatisfaction with the party’s government record. The meeting at the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus and the Bundestag is due to include an exchange with Merz and CDU General Secretary Franziska Hoppermann.
Criticism is particularly strong in eastern Germany. Désirée Schrade, CDU district chairwoman in Frankfurt (Oder), told dpa she wants to know how Merz envisions the party’s future and said a solution is needed so the CDU can inspire people again. She raised the possibility of separating the chancellery from the party chairmanship, arguing the party needs someone with the strength to look after it. If Merz does not have that strength, she said, he should no longer do the job. In Brandenburg, she said, many people are leaving the CDU because they are unhappy with the party’s government work, and she described the warning light as “dark red”.
Christian Große, chairman of the CDU district association in Potsdam-Mittelmark, said the mood is not good and that members’ expectations when the party took government responsibility have been disappointed. He said people leaving the party do so because of federal politics and that if politics does not deliver, it “makes way free for the populists”. Criticism of the black-red coalition’s course has existed for some time, according to the report.
From Thuringia, Hannes Raebel, chairman of the CDU district association in Weimarer Land, told dpa he has “very little trust” in Berlin’s leadership personnel. He strongly questioned whether the CDU still has enough authority with its current top personnel. He called the recent state elections an “absolute catastrophe”—the CDU lost heavily in each and was even voted out of the state parliament in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Raebel warned that ignoring this and continuing to muddle through would mean Germany is “really blue governed” at the latest by the next-but-one federal election in 2033.
Serap Güler, CDU district chairwoman in Cologne and a state minister, urged stronger involvement of the party base in decisions. She said district chairmen know firsthand where the party’s policies reach people and where it must improve, and she expects an open and constructive exchange in Berlin about how the CDU is perceived locally and which issues matter to people on the ground.
Many district chairmen complain that the conference programme is too packed with organisational topics and fear that the exchange with Merz will be too short. The CDU has more than 320 district chairmen nationwide, and the party leadership expects only half of them at the meeting. According to party headquarters information reported by Stern, 164 of 325 district chairmen have registered.
Sources: Der Spiegel.