2024-09-23 02:42:28
The question of who will be the candidate for chancellor is troubling the Union. A proposal from the CDU has caused irritation in its sister party, the CSU.
The public support of North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst for CDU leader Friedrich Merz as the Union’s candidate for chancellor has been received with caution by the CSU. The CSU parliamentary group leader in the Bavarian state parliament, Klaus Holetschek, told the “Bild” newspaper that “there is still no decision at all on the question of the chancellor candidate. As long as nothing has been decided, nothing has been decided.”
Wüst announced on Monday evening that he was not currently available to run for chancellor and that he would support Merz. He had long been considered a potential candidate for chancellor – alongside Merz, who is considered the favorite, and CSU leader Markus Söder. Wüst heads the CDU’s regional association with the largest number of members. With him, Merz now has significant backing.
After Wüst’s statement, Holetschek told journalists at the CSU parliamentary group meeting in Banz Monastery that they could only take note of it for now. “Actually, a different procedure was agreed between the party leaders – and that’s why I find this surprising at this point.” Wüst must “know for himself what he is communicating. It was a good procedure and they should have stuck to it.”
Merz and CSU leader Söder have agreed to resolve the question of chancellor in late summer, after the elections in three eastern German states. Next Sunday is the state election in Brandenburg – and the beginning of autumn according to the calendar. The CDU leader usually has first access to the Union’s candidate for chancellor. However, directly after the state elections in Saxony and Thuringia on September 1, CSU leader Markus Söder repeatedly reiterated that he was ready to do so.