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‘Following Merkel is tough’: On campaign trail with Germany’s struggling CDU candidate

With Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU) trailing in the polls ahead of an election next week, grassroots party members are resorting to an activity that had almost become redundant under Angela Merkel: campaigning.

'Following Merkel is tough': On campaign trail with Germany's struggling CDU candidate
Armin Lacchet campaigning in Delbrück on Saturday. Photo: dpa | Friso Gentsch

On a medieval square in the northern city of Bremen, CDU leader and conservative chancellor candidate Armin Laschet takes the stage at a campaign rally to the rousing sounds of “Eye of the Tiger” from Rocky III.

With the CDU and the CSU, its Bavarian sister party, staring down the barrel of possibly their worst election result in post-war Germany on
September 26, Laschet needs all the pumped-up motivation he can get.

The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) are currently leading in the polls, with the conservatives in a position they have become unaccustomed to after 16 years of Merkel: second place.

“I didn’t expect it to be so close,” says Hans-Georg Friedrichs, a longtime CDU activist in Bremen. “Laschet doesn’t have the advantage of already being well-known. He’s had to make himself known.”

‘Starting from scratch’

“Coming after Merkel is the problem,” agrees Kerstin Eckardt, head of a local CDU group. “We are starting from scratch. We have to convince people.”

“This time it’s a real campaign. It’s not taken for granted like it used to be,” adds a fellow party member.

With her track record, Merkel was able to end a crucial TV election debate in 2013 with the simple closing words “you know me”.

Bernd Neumann, a CDU veteran and former cabinet minister, agrees that Laschet may be suffering from not being a recognisable name.

SPD candidate Olaf Scholz has been finance minister and vice chancellor in Merkel’s coalition government since 2018. “He is well-known, he can capitalise on his experience in government,” Neumann says.

Laschet has been the leader of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, since 2017, but has never held a ministerial portfolio.

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Elected as head of the CDU in January, he only came through to secure the conservatives’ chancellor candidate nomination after a drawn-out battle with the more popular Markus Söder of the CSU.

“If there had been only one candidate, we would have been told, ‘Nothing is happening in the party, you are not democratic.’ And with two candidates, we were accused of not being united,” complains Friedrichs.

But the activists admit that the tug-of-war between the two men has left its scars, especially at a time when Merkel’s imminent departure has opened up a political vacuum and created a real need for new momentum.

“I expected it to be tough. It’s been a long time since we were second in the polls,” says Claas Rohmeyer, a regional MP for Bremen, an old commercial city with its own parliament.

End of an era

The party that has dominated politics in post-war Germany “is heading for significant changes, which is normal after 16 years,” he says, likening the Merkel era with that of Helmut Kohl, her mentor, who was in power from 1982 to 1998.

A centrist and sworn European, Laschet has vowed to continue Merkel’s moderate course.

But in an election campaign where climate change has dominated the discourse, he has been criticised for his lack of ambition and new ideas, focusing mainly on tackling bureaucracy to facilitate more  sustainable development.

“On the big issues, including climate policy, the priority for Germany is to regain its economic strength after the pandemic,” he says at the Bremen rally, to a chorus of boos from climate activists who declare him through a megaphone as “the worst choice for the climate”.

In July, television images of Laschet laughing behind President Frank-Walter Steinmeier who was paying tribute to flood victims stunned the country and eroded the Rhinelander’s reputation.

The CDU-CSU alliance, which has never won less than 30 percent of the vote in federal elections, is currently polling at between 20 and 22 percent, with the SPD out in front on 25 percent and the Greens on around 15 percent.

“The same trend can be seen around Europe, with the major parties weakening,” says Theresa Groeninger, deputy chair of the CDU’s Bremen youth wing. “The days of stability and large majorities are over.”

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GERMAN CITIZENSHIP

German conservatives vow to overturn dual citizenship if re-elected

Foreigners in Germany are waiting on tenterhooks for the introduction of the new dual nationality law on Thursday - but the centre-right CDU and CSU say they would overturn the reform if re-elected next year.

German conservatives vow to overturn dual citizenship if re-elected

“The CDU and CSU will reverse this unsuccessful reform,” Alexander Throm (CDU), spokesperson on domestic policy for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told DPA on Tuesday.

“Dual citizenship must remain the exception and be limited to countries that share our values.”

Throm also criticised the new citizenship law for reducing the amount of time foreigners need to live in the country before naturalising as Germans, describing the new residence requirements as “far too short”.

“After five or even three years, it is not yet possible to determine with certainty whether integration has been successful in the long term,” he stated.

“The recent caliphate demonstrations and the rampant Islamist extremism, often by people with German passports, must be a wake-up call for us all.”

READ ALSO: Which foreign residents are likely to become German after citizenship law change?

Despite vociferous opposition, the alliance between the Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party (CSU) was powerless to stop the traffic-light coalition’s citizenship reform passing in both the Bundestag and Bundesrat earlier this year. 

The reform, which permits the holding of multiple passports, lowers residence requirements and removes language hurdles for certain groups, is set to come into force on June 27th. 

But with the CDU and CSU emerging as clear winners in the recent EU parliamentary elections and regularly landing on 30 percent or above in the polls, it’s possible that the party could be on course to re-enter government next year. 

In this situation, the centre-right parties have pledged to try and undo what senior CDU politicians have described as a “dangerous” reform.

“It is not unusual for successive governments to reverse decisions made by the previous government,” Andrea Lindholz, the head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group said in a recent response to a question

“We will maintain our position on this and will continue to strive for a corresponding change.”

READ ALSO: What are citizenship offices around Germany doing to prepare for the new law?

Whether the CDU and CSU can secure enough votes at both state and federal elections to change the law in the future remains to be seen.

The parties may also have to compromise on their plans with any future coalition partner, such as the Greens, Social Democrats (SPD) or Free Democrats (FDP), all of whom support liberal immigration laws and the holding of multiple nationalities. 

‘Citizenship devaluation law’

The CDU and CSU parties, which form a centre-right alliance nicknamed the Union, have long been opposed to dual nationality in Germany.

During their years of governing in a so-called grand coalition with the centre-right Social Democrats (SPD), the parties had regularly made reforms of citizenship one of their red lines, citing the danger of hostile nations influencing Germany from within. 

In a recent parliamentary speech back in January, Throm had slammed the bill as a “citizenship devaluation law” and accused the government of trying to generate a new electorate to win votes.

CDU politician Alexander Throm speaks in a debate in the German Bundestag

CDU politician Alexander Throm speaks in a debate in the German Bundestag. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Christoph Soeder

In comments aimed primarily at Germany’s large Turkish diaspora, the CDU politician claimed that people who had lived in Germany for decades but not taken German citizenship had already chosen their old country over Germany.

The majority of Turks in Germany are also supporters of the authoritarian president Recep Erdogan, he argued.

Responding to the claims, FDP migration expert Ann-Veruschka Jurisch said the opposition was fuelling resentments against migrants by claiming the government was “squandering German citizenship”.

In fact, she argued, the reform has tightened up requirements by ensuring that people who claim benefits and cannot support themselves are unable to become German citizens.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about Germany’s citizenship law reform

In addition, the B1 language requirements have only been softened in a few exceptional cases, for example to honour the lifetime achievements of the guest worker generation who had few opportunities when they arrived, Jurisch said. 

If foreigners have committed crimes, the authorities will be able to investigate whether these involved racist or anti-Semitic motives before citizenship is granted, she added. 

With reporting by DPA

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