Merkel’s departure separates the Conservatives in the battle of succession

Photographer: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz / Bloomberg

Bavarian leader Markus Soeder has joined the race to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel after the German elections in September, setting up a fight with the head of his Christian Democratic Union for nomination in her Conservative bloc.

Soeder and CDU party president Armin Laschet declared an offer for the chancellery on Sunday at a press conference in Berlin, which led to a potential decision as early as this week. The CDU’s steering committees and the Soeder Christian Social Union party meet separately on Monday to set the stage for the next steps in the nomination.

Merkel, 66, will not run for another term, and her departure after 16 years has opened the way for who will lead the largest economy in Europe. She didn’t take part in the race, even though Laschet is at her party.

“The cards are now on the table,” Soeder, who leads the CSU, told ARD television, adding that the electoral challenge facing the Merkel bloc is “serious.”

The Bavarian prime minister conducted polls suggesting he was more popular than his rival, saying it was important for the Conservative candidate to have broad support among party members and the general public.

Soeder’s chances could depend on whether the two parties agree that their leading members should eliminate the candidacy or decide to open it. up to their joint parliamentary caucus in Berlin, where many parliamentarians support Soeder. Laschet signaled to ARD that he would ask the national leadership of CDU to support his candidacy on Monday.

Stable policy

“Our goal at the moment, with a chancellor leaving office, is to encourage as much unity as possible between CDU and CSU,” Laschet told reporters. “There is a lot at stake. Europe is watching Germany develop. ”

CDU and CSU traditionally submit a common candidate for chancellor. Soeder’s entry signals a struggle between two sister parties whose alliance has helped ensure Germany’s political stability since the end of World War II. His ad throws the ball into the field of CDU.

While Merkel and Soeder clashed during the 2015 German refugee crisis, the leader of the Bavarian CSU regional party backed his efforts for restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic. Laschet, meanwhile, has been criticized by Merkel for a lax response in her home state, North Rhine-Westphalia.

“We have established that we are both fit and we are both ready,” Soeder told reporters after the meeting. “Whatever the decision, we will work very well together.”

On Sunday, both candidates said they signaled the rapid approval of Merkel’s planned changes to Germany’s infectious diseases law, which would transfer some powers to the federal government from the states. Other state leaders have called for changes in the bill circulated on Saturday.

Popularity contest

National polls place support for the CDU-CSU between 26% and 28%, compared to almost 33% of the vote in the last elections in 2017. The Social Democrats, Merkel’s national coalition partner, have also fallen. The Green Party, which took 8.9% last time, polls up to 23%, increasing the chances of it being part of the next government.