BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Union parliamentary group leader Ralph Brinkhaus has decided not to run again for the parliamentary group chairmanship in favor of the future CDU chairman Friedrich Merz. Brinkhaus announced this on Thursday evening in a letter to the members of the Bundestag from the CDU and CSU, which was available to the German Press Agency in Berlin. Brinkhaus proposes that the new parliamentary group leader be elected on February 15th.
Brinkhaus was originally elected until the end of April. With his move, he avoids a renewed power struggle in the CDU ahead of the important state elections in Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia in March and May, which would have put a strain on the election campaign.
Brinkhaus writes that Merz informed him that he would definitely apply for parliamentary group chairmanship. “It’s no secret that Friedrich Merz and I have different opinions regarding the chairmanship of the parliamentary group, which we couldn’t dispel either. I think we both have good reasons for our positions,” the letter continues.
“There must be no dissent that harms the Union – especially in view of the upcoming state elections, the results of which are so crucial for us,” added the parliamentary group leader. He therefore proposes that clarity be created quickly and that the election of the parliamentary group leader, which is due at the end of April, be brought forward “to the next plenary week, i.e. to February 15, 2022”.
Brinkhaus announced that he would then no longer stand as a candidate for parliamentary group chairmanship. At the same time he asked the MPs to “support and carry the new group leader in the same way that I have been supported and carried by the group. Because this is the only way we will continue to be successful.”
He will “of course” remain in the parliamentary group as a member of parliament “and, as before, contribute with great commitment and joy to the success of our joint Christian Democratic and Christian Social project”.
Merz was elected future CDU chairman on Saturday at an online party conference by the delegates with 94.62 percent of the votes according to CDU calculations. The election still has to be confirmed by a subsequent postal vote. The result will be announced this Monday.
Brinkhaus recently said: “If the group wants that and if the group elects me, then I’ll be happy to continue after April 30.”
In December, in the first member survey of the CDU for the party chairmanship, Merz was chosen with 62.1 percent as the successor to Armin Laschet, who had failed as a candidate for chancellor. Merz is the third CDU leader since Angela Merkel announced in 2018 that she would step down from the party leadership after 18 years./bk/DP/he