The CDU leadership analyzes the new basic program and current challenges. It is supposed to be “pure CDU”, but the AfD is usually there.

“We are a conservative party again”: CDU leader Friedrich Merz (right) and his advisor Carsten Linnemann Photo: Helmut Fricke/dpa

HEIDELBERG taz | The Marriott hotel in Heidelberg enjoys a wonderful location on the banks of the Neckar. Yet the building and its interior, with its dark red patterned carpets and a wooden bar with the word “Paint” written above the entrance, exude the spirit of the last millennium. In this sense, it is very appropriate that the CDU's federal executive committee meets here for its opening meeting of the year, even if some Christian Democrats mock the atmosphere.

The core of the retreat is a resolution on the new basic program which, with its commitment to mainstream culture and nuclear energy, its attitude towards Islam and the relocation of asylum procedures to third countries, exudes a very zeitgeist. similar to the place. The party wants to correct the course of Merkel's CDU without breaking too much with it. “We are once again a conservative party and no one has a problem saying so anymore,” said party leader Friedrich Merz, visibly satisfied, in his last press conference.

Nuclear energy and Islam are also two of the points that, according to participants, were actively discussed at the meeting. Merz admits it. He especially criticized the phrase “Muslims who share our values ​​belong to Germany.” Some Christian Democrats are bothered by the general suspicion that resonates. The wording was not changed and there were no other fundamental changes to the project before the Federal Executive Committee approved it.

This is also because the party leadership was extensively involved in drawing up the draft program, which can be considered a success for Merz and his general secretary, Carsten Linnemann, who headed the program commission. “There will be a debate at the party conference,” Merz said. There could possibly be a better formulation of the passage of Islam, but the basic orientation of the content must remain. The new basic program will be approved at the federal party conference in Berlin in May. Numerous modifications are expected there.

According to the wishes of Merz and Linnemann, in addition to this unity, two signals should be sent from the meeting: that the traffic lights are to blame for the current situation in the country and that the CDU is the counter-model of the traffic lights. The legitimacy of political parties to solve problems is declining, Linnemann said. “The traffic light, it must be said very clearly, is the main cause.” The CDU wants to “give support and guidance” with the decision on the basic program, the fourth in the party's history. The CDU, says Linnemann, needs to focus on itself. He calls it “pure CDU”.

“We will not tolerate that”

However, this weekend there is always a second party: the AfD. This is due to the upcoming elections this year: in the local and European elections in June, as well as in the regional elections in September in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, there is a risk that the far-right party will triumph. . But it is also due to the recently announced meeting near Potsdam, in which, according to a Correctiv investigation, AfD politicians discussed with businessmen and other right-wing extremists a plan for the mass deportation of people of immigrant origin.

Members of the CDU and the Union of Values ​​participated. “We will not tolerate that,” Merz said. According to Paul Ziemiak, general secretary of the state CDU, the responsible regional association has taken steps to exclude a CDU member from North Rhine-Westphalia from the party.

The general discussion at the beginning of the exam lasted three hours and there were more than 40 requests to speak. We often heard that it was about the state of the country, how to deal with the AfD and concerns about democracy. Merz also talked about this in his opening speech. According to participants, there was agreement on the AfD's clear demarcation, but not on how to deal with the far-right party. Some believe that the CDU should aggressively challenge the AfD in terms of content. Others fear this could further strengthen the AfD.

Merz wants a “very clear and very tough confrontation” with the AfD, especially in matters of European, foreign and economic policy, as he explained when asked at the press conference. Many artisans and medium-sized businesses sympathize with the AfD; It must be made clear to them that this party does not advance the country economically, but rather harms it. He also called on the entire federal executive committee to actively participate in the election campaign in the three eastern German states. “This is a task for the entire federal party,” Merz said. “I don't want to accuse us after this election that we possibly didn't do enough before this election.”

Also on the attack team is the leader of the Thuringian CDU, Mario Voigt, in whose country the situation is especially complicated. There was only passing talk about a party ban process. “I think very little about it,” Merz said again. We must fight politically against the AfD.

He wants to make a cut in the union of values. “The circus of the union of values” must come to an end, Merz reportedly said at the meeting. The Union of Values ​​is not a partisan organization, but an independent association, whose members largely belong to the CDU and CSU. If the Union of Values ​​consolidates itself as its own party next weekend, as its president, the former President for the Protection of the Constitution Hans-Georg Maaßen, plans, the CDU's problem at the organizational level will practically solve itself. Anyone who joins another party cannot be in the CDU at the same time. If the Union of Values ​​does not do this, Merz wants to present an incompatibility decision at the next federal party conference.

Heidelberg Declaration

In order for the meeting to send a clear message, the CDU leadership not only approved the minimally modified draft of the basic program, but also a “Heidelberg Declaration”. Here too, only the federal government is to blame for the current misery. The traffic light is said to be “powerless, headless, disordered and conflictive.” And: “Democracy is stable. “We just need a better government.” The content contains much of what is also in the draft basic program. If it takes over the government, the CDU wants to abolish citizens' money and the heating law, and cuts to agricultural diesel subsidies should also be reversed.

People who have been working for a long time and become unemployed through no fault of their own, but collect unemployment benefits for longer. “At this moment we cannot do without the option of nuclear energy,” he also says, somewhat vaguely. Internal border controls should remain in place until Frontex is expanded into a true border police force, and in future asylum procedures will be carried out in third countries, where refugees will have to stay beyond a certain quota , even after having been recognized.

But isn't it also dangerous to constantly and massively attack traffic lights because this does not benefit the CDU, but the AfD? “First of all, the federal government is responsible for what happens in this country,” Merz responded, but stressed that they are still willing to work with the traffic light. At the meeting, North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst proposed making a new offer for traffic light talks.

“These are not easy times when traffic lights rule,” said Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther, in a slightly different tone. “We should not fool people into believing that the Union is responsible for ensuring that everything in Germany is well regulated.” Some things have been left up in the air for too long, so there is a lot to do. This can definitely be understood as self-criticism. After all, the CDU governed in front of traffic lights for 16 years.