Before the CDU’s federal party conference, scheduled to begin this Friday in Stuttgart, several party members backed Chairman and Chancellor Friedrich Merz while also calling for reforms.
“Merz is exactly the right chancellor at the right time” said CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann in the Friday edition of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. He also admitted problems: “The high debt that followed the Bundestag election still weighs on us today”. He added that the necessary reforms must now be implemented decisively. “The first steps have been taken” he explained. “Our goal must be to regain trust through hard work and visible, good results”.
Long‑time confidant of Merz and former Hessian premier Roland Koch told the paper that the CDU is home for Friedrich Merz. He noted that Angela Merkel’s statement, “the party to which I belong” would never have come from Merz. “One also points out that, of course, not enough is happening with regard to the reform agenda” Koch said. “A Christian Democrat cannot really be satisfied with the current situation”. He blamed the Social Democrats for the lack of progress, saying that after the election many Christian Democrats were misled by the SPD’s strategic direction. “Most Christian Democrats believed that a corridor within the SPD is in the national interest” he said.
Deputy CDU national chair Karin Prien urged patience. Speaking to the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, education minister Prien said that some people are disappointed that, after the CDU’s return to the chancellery, their ideas have not yet materialized. “I am not one of them” she said. She described Merz as a classic centrist who feels bound to proper democratic procedures, even if they can be tedious. “Some would like a more disruptive approach, even within our own party” she added.
On Friday afternoon Merz is to be confirmed as party chairman for the first time. He last received almost 90 percent of the vote in 2024.