For the CDU, Angela Merkel is just a woman from yesterday

Merkur For the CDU, Angela Merkel is just a woman from yesterday Georg Anastasiadis • 7 hours • 2 minutes reading time Merkur commentary The CDU rallied around its candidate for chancellor, Friedrich Merz, at its party conference. The ex-chancellor's decisive words fell on deaf ears. Because her party found them indecent. A commentary by Georg Anastasiadis. Was that admiration? Mockery? Or Bavarian underhandedness? The Merz CDU had gone straight from the sleeping car to the rollercoaster, marveled CSU leader Markus Söder at the sister party's party conference. It was probably a bit of everything. Respect for the "steep move" of the asylum campaigner Merz, but also a bit of distancing in case the move turns out to be too steep in retrospect. Söder himself would probably not have taken such a risk. Before the 2025 federal election: Merkel's decisive words fall on deaf ears - CDU stands behind Merz Last week shook up the Union like no other event in a long time, culminating in the former chancellor's stab in the back of the candidate for chancellor. But contrary to some expectations in her own party (and many hopes in the red-green coalition), Merkel's intervention, which was perceived as indecent, did not plunge the CDU into chaos, but rather caused it to close ranks even more tightly around Merz. The decision of another prominent CDU politician is symbolic of this: former party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer announced her resignation from the "Central Committee of German Catholics" after it had taken a direct stand against Merz in the asylum debate. This was also a clear sign against her former political mentor Angela Merkel. Instead of Merkel's CDU, now Merz's CDU: also eligible for election again for conservatives This shows the Union's agitation - but also its determination not to let itself be driven by lobby groups (anymore). The churches are making it too easy for themselves when they promise people heaven on earth and promise everyone will be accepted into Germany, but then throw the resulting problems at the door of the CDU and CSU. Friedrich Merz may not have acted consistently happily recently. But the debate has shown even the last doubters, albeit the hard way: Today's CDU is no longer the Merkel CDU, but the Merz CDU, which is also eligible for election again for conservatives. At the party conference, it presented itself as a well-oiled power machine with the aim of assuming government responsibility for Germany again. The overly self-righteous Angela Merkel, who left the Union the difficult legacy of the AfD, has been just a woman of yesterday in the CDU since last week. No one would be surprised if she were to leave the party that she never really cared about. And only a few would regret it.