But just before the talks with the “dream partner” FDP, internal tensions rise in the Union. In the CDU, politicians express doubts about the future role of party leader Armin Laschet – and potential successors clash. In addition, there are almost every day nicks with the CSU in Munich.
Greens and Liberals have doubts about the Union
Many Greens and Liberals now openly doubt whether talks with an increasingly divided Union still make sense. These two parties even have an interest in keeping the Jamaica map in play with a view to the SPD.
Merz, Kramp-Karrenbauer and Spahn exert pressure
But Union Chancellor candidate Laschet was controversial even before the election and was not only constantly questioned by the CSU leader Markus Söder, who was defeated in the Chancellor candidate freestyle. Internal and public criticism of him has intensified since election Sunday, although the party committees and also the new parliamentary group gave the CDU leader the mandate for sounding out Jamaica. It continues to ferment behind the scenes – and supporters are also moving away from him. This trend increases the more it seems that the Union is more likely to go into opposition than into a Jamaica coalition. Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Friedrich Merz are now publicly friends with this option. This leads to disengagement movements, especially among those who squint themselves on faction or party leadership.
In an interview with the Funke media group, Merz emphasized that he was behind Laschet as long as there was a Jamaica option. At the same time, however, he criticized the election campaign and the candidate so heavily that their political future seemed even more uncertain. Health Minister Jens Spahn, who supported Laschet’s election as party leader and candidate for chancellor, also moves a little stronger with each interview because he does not want to be dragged into the political abyss.
On Friday, the situation was also assessed differently than on Monday: “Looking back, it would have been best if Laschet would have resigned on Sunday evening,” say three of Laschet’s supporters. Because the hope that holding up the Jamaica option could stabilize the Union has not been fulfilled. On the contrary: In the ZDF Politbarometer, the approval of the Germans for the SPD, Olaf Scholz and a traffic light coalition made up of the SPD, Greens and FDP continues to grow. “The Jamaica option is being discredited more and more by our quarreling,” admits a CDU federal board member. So also Merz and CDU / CSU parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus clashed.
The result: The soundings begin with Laschet. But fewer and fewer of those questioned in the CDU believe that he could still become chancellor if he graduated successfully. In the Laschet camp, however, one hopes that the debate will change once the traffic light talks deal with the content and contradictions of the positions of the SPD and FDP.
In addition, the CSU rides attacks on Laschet and also against Jamaica almost every day – but denies them at the same time. “The party seems schizophrenic,” says the CDU. On the one hand, both party leader Söder and CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt assured that they wanted Jamaica. “Jamaica has an opportunity, Jamaica is an opportunity,” said CSU General Secretary Markus Blume on Friday. On the other hand, the CSU believe this less and less.
If on Monday the assessment that Söder needed access to the Berlin money pots also with a view to the Bavarian state elections dominated in talks with CDU politicians, a different interpretation is now gaining the upper hand: the CSU does not want either a Chancellor Laschet or a Jamaica alliance, suspect CDU politicians. “Söder can have no interest in strengthening the FDP and the Greens with a coalition in the federal government before the Bavarian state elections and then being able to attack them more poorly,” said the reason. The fact that Söder could step in as a “substitute” for Laschet as Jamaica Chancellor even at the last minute is dismissed by CDU parliamentarians. Many in the Bundestag parliamentary group would not vote for him in the secret election after the last few months, it is said.
At least it is diligently teased: Bavaria’s Finance Minister Albert Füracker openly blames Laschet for the election debacle. On Thursday, the Bavarian regional party rushed forward with the nomination of five probers – and then spread outrage that the much larger CDU nominated ten people. CSU General Secretary Blume, in turn, tweeted the possible coalition partner FDP against him when he tweeted that the CSU could have probed earlier. “The magic word for you right now is humility. You need us, not we you,” tweeted the FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann back. Both in the FDP and the Greens it is said that one doubts the reliability of the CSU as a partner. Unlike the CDU, both parties are not used to decades of constant teasing and ambiguities from Munich – and they now have an alternative with the SPD.
