BERLIN – Germany’s largest political party elects a new leader on Saturday, with the winner well positioned to succeed Angela Merkel as the next chancellor of Europe’s leading economy.
Regardless of the outcome, it will mark a new chapter for Germany and Europe, where the firm but steady leadership of Ms. Merkel has been constant for the past 15 years. She has earned respect because she has held Europe together through repeated crises and recently her deft handling of the coronavirus pandemic over the past year.
“In a sense, an era is coming to an end,” said Herfried Münkler, a political scientist at Humboldt University in Berlin. “But in certain basic positions, such as the geopolitical situation and the economic conditions in the EU, it all remains unchanged, regardless of who the chancellor is.”
German voters will elect a new government on September 26, and Ms. Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union remains the country’s most popular party, according to a poll by Infratest / Dimap last week.
Me. Merkel led the party for 18 years and retired in 2018. She was replaced by one-time heiress Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who announced her own departure almost a year ago due to internal party strife. Since then, three men have lied for the leadership position. But no clear forerunner has emerged.
Although all three candidates seem to have a lot in common – all men, all Roman Catholics, all from the West German state of North Rhine-Westphalia – each has a divergent vision of the future of the party that Germany for 50 of the past 70 year.
Here’s a look at the candidates and where their leadership can take Germany:
Armin Laschet – The Centrist
In terms of experience, Mr. Laschet, the governor of Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017, has the strongest hand. The only candidate to win an election and serve as governor, 59-year-old Mr Laschet nevertheless struggled to generate enthusiasm for his campaign.
He announced his candidacy last February, flanked by Ms. Merkel’s health minister, Jens Spahn, who was in a poll above the chancellor in late December as Germany’s most popular politician. Mr Spahn was seeking the leadership position in 2018, but this time he promised to replace Mr Spahn. Laschet to support.
The popularity of mr. Spahn and another man who are not running for party leadership, Markus Söder, the governor of Bavaria, has led top Christian Democrat officials to decide who they want to run for office as chancellor in Saturday’s party leader. mood set aside. . This means that whoever is elected party leader will not necessarily be the next chancellor.
Mr. Spahn’s support of Mr. Laschet was supposed to garner support from those who saw forty-year-old Mr. Spahn take the opportunity to rejuvenate the party. But instead, it has shifted the focus to a possible scenario in which the health minister could elect him chancellor while Mr Laschet remains party leader.
Mr. Laschet is seen as the candidate who is likely to continue Merkel’s centrist style of stable politics. He is a strong supporter of German industry and shares the Chancellor’s idea that Germany benefits from diversity and integration.
Laschet sees a strong relationship with Russia as central to Germany’s success, although he sees the United States and NATO as essential to lasting security in Europe.
Friedrich Merz – the Conservatives
Mr. Merz, a former lawmaker, is considered the candidate who has the greatest chance of getting Ms. To break Merkel’s leadership style and return the party to its more traditional conservative identity. At the same time, he had to reassure voters that they would not move ‘one millimeter’ to the far-right alternative for Germany.
Mr. Merz (65) has not held any political office since 2002, when Ms. Merkel ousted him as leader of the Christian Democrats’ party chew in parliament. Three years later, he left politics for the private sector, where he amassed a personal fortune that he played in the campaign, portraying himself as a higher-middle class instead of a millionaire.
He is the least popular among women, who among me. Merkel’s leadership flowed to the party and became an important voting bloc. Many people remember that Merz voted against criminalizing marital rape in 1997, and German Education Minister Anja Karliczek warned that his penchant for a sharp twist on issues such as immigration could threaten the party’s cohesion.
But this style is popular among young conservatives and the right wing of the party, which criticizes me. Merkel’s decision to take in nearly 1 million migrants in 2015 and welcomes its calls to return to a tighter fiscal policy.
Mr. Merz, a proponent of strong ties between Europe and the United States, is more skeptical of a deeply integrated European Union and criticizes the recent 1.8 billion euro, or $ 2.2 billion, stimulus and budget package agreed in Brussels, which includes the issuance of joint debt – long a no-go for Germany.
Norbert Röttgen – the dark horse
Mr. Röttgen, a former Minister of Environmental Affairs under Ms. Merkel, was considered a favorite, although he recently had a strong performance in the polls. However, this is probably not enough to ensure a clear chance of party leadership. Still, the 55-year-old foreign policy expert could cut a path to the top if the race on a run-off between him and Mr. Merz came.
Mr. Röttgen lost his post as environment minister in 2012 after a poor performance in the race for governor of North Rhine-Westphalia that year. Since then, he has become a leading foreign policy expert in parliament and was very surprised when he entered the race for party leadership.
Mr. Röttgen has built a following among younger voters and women, pointing to his role in transforming the German economy into energy-powered energy and emphasizing the importance of improving digital infrastructure and expertise to position the country for a future where it can compete with China or the United States.
Mr. Röttgen says he wants to build on the issues of diversity and equality that Ms. Merkel advocated, to ensure that the Conservative Christian Democrats remain relevant in light of an increase in popularity of the Greens, especially among young urban voters. He is in favor of continued European integration and strong ties with Washington, but he says Germany should play a stronger role in the trans-Atlantic relationship.
He greatly increased his appeal to party delegates who are watching the general election in the autumn, with his willingness to nominate the candidate for chancellor if it is in the best interests of the party, and stresses the importance of teamwork above individualism.
Christopher F. Schuetze contribution made.