The CDU general secretary at the time, Czaja, identified content-related “voids” in his party in June. A new basic program, developed under the leadership of his successor Linnemann, is to fill them.
CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann sees his party ahead of “extremely important” months and decisions. “The pegs that we are now hammering in are central,” he told the German Press Agency in Berlin with a view to developing a new basic program. “The basic program has to be right. That is very important for the success of the CDU.” The draft will be presented at the end of the year. The program will then be adopted by the federal executive board in January, discussed with the members and finally decided at the federal party conference in May.
Linnemann also heads the program and policy committee of the CDU. “It is crucial that we are perceived as purely thematically CDU. What would happen if the CDU had an absolute majority? Citizens need to know what would happen then,” he said. This must now be dovetailed with the basic program. “That’s also the reason why I accepted this job – so that both, daily politics and the basic program, are interlinked and lie in one hand.”
Linnemann: “Show the CDU purely”
His main task is now: “Don’t look to the right, don’t look to the left, but show the CDU purely.” Linnemann emphasized that reorganizing the CDU is a team task. “For this we need people who are authentic, stand for issues and know what they are talking about.” The Union has a lot of them. “In the last few decades, the CDU has always been successful when it has a broad range of topics and personnel. And we have to show that again.”
This also applies to women in the CDU, for whom one wants to become more attractive. “That’s why I think it’s crucial that women become more visible in central positions. We have to emphasize the breadth of the party with these personalities. You can’t do that just with the women’s quota, you have to want it. And we want that.” Linnemann named the deputy party chairmen Karin Prien and Silvia Breher as well as the deputy general secretary Christina Stumpp as examples.
CDU presidium member Jens Spahn called for more cohesion from his party. “We still lack esprit de corps. If we want to win in 2025, we all have to burn for it and stand up for each other,” he told the “Bild am Sonntag” with a view to the federal election in two years.
In surveys currently at 26 to 27 percent
The Union is currently at 26 to 27 percent in nationwide polls. However, only 25 percent of those questioned in a Yougov survey commissioned by the German Press Agency described CDU leader Friedrich Merz as suitable for the chancellor’s office – 56 percent considered him unsuitable. The Bavarian Prime Minister and CSU leader Markus Söder received 36 percent approval. But at 48 percent, significantly more respondents saw him as unsuitable for the chancellor’s office.
Linnemann sees no danger of the CDU becoming a western party after he took over from Berlin’s Mario Czaja as general secretary. “I wouldn’t make such a sharp division either. The CDU is not a party that defines itself by cardinal points. We have great, competent personalities everywhere, even in the eastern part of Germany.”
He knows East Germany very well, did his doctorate in Chemnitz and still travels a lot here. He appreciates this part of Germany very much. “Plain text is loved there. I really, really enjoy performing there.” He would also like to get involved in the upcoming election campaigns in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg – “and very strongly”.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
