Armin Laschet has now internalized that things will not go on with him. The CDU boss wants to moderate his departure himself after an extremely unfortunate time. Will his party grant him that? The press commentators doubt it.
In view of the self-tearing of the CDU, which is really fueled by his crashing election defeat, Armin Laschet has no choice but to withdraw. The fact that he does this hesitantly as usual, that he still leaves the back door of the Jamaica coalition open a little and that he wants to “moderate” the new beginning of his party himself will not protect him from being the greatest unlucky person in CDU history enter into. This is how the commentators rate Laschet’s withdrawal announcement.
“Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”: is now trying to at least keep control of his departure. Will the party give him this opportunity to save face? That will depend above all on the calculations of those who have hopes for the office of CDU chairman. Do any of them think they can still become Chancellor thanks to Laschet’s declared willingness to make sacrifices? Probably nobody will be eager for the “moderation” of a politician whom their own party and the CSU have labeled as a failure. Laschet’s appearance was not completely clear or convincing either. But at least the paralysis of the CDU is subsiding. The process of personnel renewal, which is intended to visibly mark the new beginning, has started.
“Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”: The outgoing CDU leader Armin Laschet was considered Rocky Balboa in German politics. Because of his taker qualities, he has been compared to the boxer Rocky, played by Sylvester Stallone. Now Laschet has announced his withdrawal from the party chairmanship before he is knocked out by his own party friends.
“The mirror”: Armin Laschet is called the the political unlucky person of his party will go down in history – regardless of whether it is justified or not. The current chairman even announced that he would no longer stand in the way of an option as a possible chancellor, although Laschet had acted until the end that he was the guarantor for such an alliance to come about.
“Badish newspaper”: Laschet hopes to find a consensus candidate as his successor, who would then only be approved by a federal party congress. With all due respect: that would be the safest way to postpone the overdue course determination again. If this happened, the Union would probably revolve around itself for a long time to come. For the future of this once proud people’s party, that would be more disastrous than any insidiousness from Bavaria.
Armin Laschet: Even in retreat, the ambiguous one
“Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung”: Even if Armin Laschet played a large part in the Union’s defeat in the elections, he managed to leave the country with dignity and self-determined before others chased him from court. Laschet wants to moderate the transition for a realignment of the party. He wants to avoid further candidacies for the party chairmanship. If he succeeds in that, his last service to the party will be a great one. Because the CDU is currently in terrible shape.
“Swabian newspaper”: From the very beginning of his candidacy, most people doubted that Armin Laschet would be suitable as Chancellor – even within the Union. In the meantime even he seems to have realized that he is not a bearer of hope. Even in retreat he remains true to his line of ambiguity. It almost demands respect for what the failed candidate of the Union has endured in terms of criticism from outside, indiscretions from within and headwinds from all sides, before he was ready to at least hint at personal consequences. But this extraordinary ability to suffer, which could also be a strength in other situations, is symptomatic of the CDU’s crisis. It can be doubted whether a Jamaica coalition is still in the interests of the battered Christian Democrats. The party urgently needs a staff renewal. In terms of content, however, the CDU once again needed a clear, conservative profile after the Merkel era. It can be sharpened better in the opposition.
The “strangest appearance” among the strange appearances
“Pforzheimer Zeitung”: It is perhaps the strangest appearance by Armin Laschet this year, which is certainly not poor in strange Laschet appearances. Does he believe, does the CDU seriously believe that it will be able to continue like this until December? The power struggles will start immediately, they will be brutal. But the hope of somehow still being able to forge a coalition leaves no room for common sense. Not with Laschet, not on the CDU board. Instead of making a clear and quick cut, preparing for a fresh start in the opposition and recognizing that everything has to be scrutinized – and that immediately – Laschet and the party are still sticking to the smallest power option. No, nobody can entrust the country to this CDU. It is quite possible that this devastating impression from autumn 2021 will stick with the party for a long time. More than four years.
“New Osnabrück Newspaper”: The governing bodies of the CDU have failed. Now they leave Laschet out in the rain. He has now sent the urgent signal to members and voters: we understand. He wants to moderate the reorganization of the party, even not stand in the way of a Jamaica alliance without him. For him, who has dedicated his life to politics and who may now lose everything, this is a tough step that deserves respect. The realignment will not be easy. Well-known names are already haunting the government district. However, it is questionable whether a new beginning is possible with a Jens Spahn, a Norbert Röttgen or a Friedrich Merz. What the CDU does not need: a new chairman who only looks at the Chancellery. What is needed: a middle-class conservative force in the middle.
“Berlin newspaper”: After the “Laschet era”, the Union is threatened with collapse into insignificance. It could develop in a similar way to that of the Christian Democrats in Italy, who for decades determined the political course in Italy. After many legendary prime ministers, the Democrazia Cristiana disbanded after a devastating corruption scandal. So it is possible that a party that appears to be part of the democratic inventory of a country disappears. Now the various mask affairs, the Amthor affair and the entanglements, especially from the CSU environment in the Wirecard scandal, do not have the dimensions of the Italian revelations. (…) But even Laschet has to be reproached for not being able to bring the party on a course of renewal from a moral point of view because he did not prevent family members from benefiting from political decisions when Laschet was Prime Minister in North Rhine-Westphalia.
“Laschet should clear the way immediately”
“Leipziger Volkszeitung”: Behind Laschet, the future of a party that could regain the Chancellery in four years’ time has not yet emerged. At the moment there are mainly disagreements, power struggles and destruction to be seen. After the CDU twice carried out its new party leadership at the end of the Merkel era through divisive fight candidates, the third change at the top of the party in just three years could drag the Christian Democrats down further in a vortex.
“Neue Zürcher Zeitung” (Switzerland): This fall was no longer a surprise in the end, but it remains breathtaking. In January Armin Laschet was elected chairman of the CDU and in April the Union’s candidate for chancellor. He had a good chance of inheriting Angela Merkel and moving from the Düsseldorf State Chancellery to the Berlin Chancellery. At the end of this year he will be neither party leader nor Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, neither chancellor nor opposition leader in Berlin. The politician Laschet failed, and he even failed in the exit. That gives his fall a tragic note. With a declaration on Thursday evening, Laschet confirmed the verdict that history will pass on him: He was weighed and found to be too light the courage to be great. He should clear the way now and withdraw from all leadership positions.
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