In Germany, pressure is growing on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative camp to decide her succession. CDU prominent Friedrich Merz asked the candidates Armin Laschet (CDU) and Markus Söder (CSU) on Saturday to come out quickly.
The conflict between Laschet and Söder revolves around who will be put forward as chancellor candidate in the parliamentary elections in September. Merkel then takes a step back after about 16 years. The top of her CDU party supports Laschet, a party leader and prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia. Foreman Söder of the Bavarian sister party CSU also wants to succeed Merkel and has his party’s support.
Discussions were held within the parties about the possibilities of breaking the deadlock, but this did not lead to a breakthrough. The CDU ranks as the larger party, but according to polls, Bavarian state prime minister Söder is more popular among the constituency and voters in general. The conflict is causing division within the Union, the CDU / CSU alliance and is seen with sorrow by some party leaders.
“Make an agreement, Markus Söder and Armin Laschet. This country needs leadership,” Merz said at a campaign meeting. He lost the leadership election within Laschet’s CDU earlier this year and now wants to become a parliamentarian. Merz has previously said that he is squarely behind his party colleague and former rival Laschet.
Parliamentarians from the CDU and CSU would meanwhile work on a ‘plan B’. They collected signatures last week to enforce a vote in the party on the succession issue. That could happen next week if it fails to resolve the conflict by mutual agreement.
If Söder ultimately wins, it would not be the first time that the CSU could supply the chancellor candidate. In 1980 the Union pushed CSU member Franz-Josef Strauss forward, and in 2002, Edmund Stoiber was allowed to try. Both candidates eventually missed out on the chancellorship.