2024-05-07 06:57:26
Carsten Linnemann should bring the CDU back into government. Half marathon with a general secretary who has made the CDU his religion.
“I’m really excited now,” says Carsten Linnemann and claps his hands excitedly. The eyes shine behind the square glasses. He jumps up and down several times with his knees drawn up. It’s a performance like the one we know from the CDU general secretary. Energetic, almost driven.
It doesn’t matter whether the follow-up date is a CDU policy program meeting or an East Westphalia derby between Arminia Bielefeld and SC Paderborn. For Linnemann, the state of mind is actually standard.
This Sunday morning he is running the half marathon in Berlin with a group of CDU employees. He proudly straightens his blue team shirt again. “Cadenabbia turquoise, our party color,” he says and grins contentedly. While one or two people take a deep breath before the run, think about it or even struggle with last-minute doubts, Linnemann doesn’t seem to have any concerns. He just wants to go.
The goal: the federal election
Carsten Linnemann is deputy chairman and general secretary of the CDU for ten months. His goal: bring the party back into government. He wants to prove that the CDU can win elections again – regardless of the top candidate.
The way there? It’s a marathon. And the pressure of being the first to finish? High. After losing the 2021 federal election, the party took a long time to recover. Some fear that another legislative session in opposition could prove to be an ordeal. Linnemann is supposed to prevent that.
The CDU politician tours non-stop through local clubs and talk shows, placing his messages on large stages and in small corner bars. Linnemann probably knows the new basic program that he developed together with the party and which is to be adopted at the party conference on May 7th so well that he can recite it even at three in the morning. “Pure CDU,” is how he describes the 69 pages.
The question is, is content and commitment really enough to get you back to the Chancellery?
The light version of the conservative hardliner
Linnemann has actually already come a long way. There were times when the former head of the Mittelstandsunion was one of the conservative hardliners in his party. Economic and migration policy. He is much more critical of Islam than many others in the CDU. This may also be because he lived in Saudi Arabia for a few months while completing his doctorate in economics. “Back then I experienced firsthand how strong the cultural and social differences are,” he says when asked about it.
When the question arose at the beginning of last year as to who should become Merz’s general secretary, the first choice was social politician Mario Czaja. Also because there was a fear that Linnemann and Merz were too similar. In July 2023, Czaja was replaced. Linnemann is still conservative now, just significantly less polarizing.
When things like the Islamist demonstrations in Hamburg last weekend happen, the Secretary General now reacts more moderately than he would have done before. He does say: “Germany has a fundamental problem with Islamism.” The demonstration in Hamburg is just the tip of the iceberg and a state “should not allow that to happen”. But he also says: “I would be careful about approaching the right to assembly in principle. I rely on the judiciary.”
As general secretary, Linnemann knows that he can no longer just speak for one wing of the party. He has to serve the entire spectrum of the CDU. The same applies to the basic program.
The first kilometers: content, content, content
During the half marathon it takes barely more than two kilometers before Linnemann starts talking about his mammoth task, the new program. He worked on it for a year, first as chairman of the program commission and then as secretary general. “The CDU was completely gutted in terms of content,” he says about the state of his party after the last federal election. He should fix this.