After the end of the summer break, the CDU and CSU are preparing for the last months of this electoral term – demonstratively no longer only oriented towards the traffic light coalition.
The Union faction in the Bundestag is returning from the summer break with demonstrative self-confidence and is already looking at the desired change of government a year before the election. “We are practically no longer concerned at all, or only very little, with what is coming from this coalition,” said chairman Friedrich Merz (CDU) at the start of a retreat of the faction leadership in Neuhardenberg, Brandenburg. They will be dealing more intensively with issues “that we expect to be the most important issues for future government activity.”
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt added: “We are also meeting here in Neuhardenberg to prepare for the takeover of the government in Berlin.” This year, the traffic light coalition is even foregoing its regular “therapy session” in Meseberg – meaning the cabinet meeting in the federal government’s guest house in Meseberg Castle. “Therapy broken off, relationship irreparably shattered,” was Dobrindt’s conclusion. Merz assumed that the disputes between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP would only increase in the coming months.
Unresolved K question hovers over the deliberations
As with all of the Union’s current deliberations, the unresolved K question is also on the table in Neuhardenberg. Merz told the German Press Agency before the closed meeting: “Markus Söder and I will talk about it in the near future.” Of course, the state leaders of the CDU will also be spoken to. “And at the end of the day, the two party leaders of the CDU and CSU will make a joint proposal, which they will then implement together.”
Merz stressed: “This agreement that Markus Söder and I made two and a half years ago is still valid.” He reiterated that the decision would be made “in late summer.” Merz did not want to comment on this question in more detail in Neuhardenberg. Söder had attracted attention when he said at the Gillamoos folk festival in Lower Bavaria: “For me, being prime minister is the best job. But I would not shirk responsibility for our country.”
Merz defends ultimatum on migration issue
In Neuhardenberg, the party and parliamentary group leader defended the ultimatum he had given the traffic light coalition to continue the migration talks. He is demanding a binding commitment from the federal government by next Tuesday that in future there will be rejections at the German borders of refugees for whose asylum procedures the Federal Republic is not even responsible.
“The basis for the decision is all on the table,” said Merz. “The federal government knows that it is legally permissible and possible to turn people away at Germany’s external borders. It must now make a political decision.” There is no longer any need for long discussions for this. “That is why I have made a request, namely that we decide quickly now.” If the federal government does not feel able to do this, the Union sees no need for further consultation.
Union calls for use of facial recognition software
For the deliberations of the executive board of the Union parliamentary group, the positions of the CDU and CSU were summarized again in a paper. This also contains demands for increasing internal security, such as the storage of IP addresses and the use of facial recognition software. “Our security is in danger if our world becomes increasingly digitalized, but our security authorities are denied this for ideological reasons,” it says.
Merz hardly counts on the FDP anymore
With regard to possible coalition options after the 2025 federal election, Merz is hardly counting on the FDP, which was considered a natural ally of the Union for decades. The FDP is in such bad shape that one has to assume that it may be eliminated from the Bundestag again in the election, Merz told the dpa. “What I see at the moment suggests that the FDP is now on its deathbed again.”
Merz said he shared CSU leader Markus Söder’s critical attitude towards the Greens, “the way they do politics here in Berlin today”. They are currently a party that patronizes people, fails in economic policy and is still “running by their old green ideology”. There is certainly no agreement for cooperation with “these Greens of today” in the CDU either. We do not know what will happen this time next year.
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.
