I hardly cover European politics in this blog, but I find this thread on German politics by Marcel Dirsus fascinating and worth reading
First, a little context. Merkel became leader of the CDU in 2000. After she stepped down in 2018, the party held a leadership contest in which Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK), Jens Spahn and Friedrich Merz fought to succeed her. AKK won. pic.twitter.com/8WcmNnKqXv
— Marcel Dirsus (@marceldirsus) January 9, 2021
AKK decided to step down as leader of the CDU early last year. A new leader was supposed to be elected quickly but corona happened and the party kept delaying. Logistical challenges aside, a lot of people worried about doing too much party politics while the world burned
— Marcel Dirsus (@marceldirsus) January 9, 2021
That's how we got here. So what's going on? There are three candidates running to become new leader of the CDU: Norbert Röttgen (left), Armin Laschet (middle), Friedrich Merz (right) pic.twitter.com/knUD2xuee3
— Marcel Dirsus (@marceldirsus) January 9, 2021
Unlike Merz and Röttgen, Laschet actually leads a state. During the crisis, Laschet has tried to portray himself as a competent manager who can lead Germany through choppy waters while his competitors are busy giving speeches
— Marcel Dirsus (@marceldirsus) January 9, 2021
A lot of people within the CDU like Merz because they believe Merkel moved the party too far to the centre on issues like migration or nuclear energy. They might argue that this has created a political vacuum that has pathed the way for the strength of the far-right AfD
— Marcel Dirsus (@marceldirsus) January 9, 2021
At the beginning of this it was mostly a contest between Merz and Laschet but that changed over the last couple of months because Norbert Röttgen has been getting a lot of attention. He's constantly on TV and playing social media comparatively well pic.twitter.com/s7rhSdY1do
— Marcel Dirsus (@marceldirsus) January 9, 2021
All of the 11 people in the German foreign policy blob love Röttgen but that's also his biggest weakness. Elections are rarely won on foreign policy and it remains to be seen whether he can convince people that he's more than JCPOA, Huawei and Belarus
— Marcel Dirsus (@marceldirsus) January 9, 2021
Let's say we have a winner. Does that person automatically run to become the next Chancellor of Germany for the centre-right? No, because that would be too easy. Once the new leader has been chosen the CDU will talk to its sister party, the CSU, to agree to a common candidate
— Marcel Dirsus (@marceldirsus) January 9, 2021
The common "Chancellor-Candidate" is usually the leader of the CDU but that's not always the case. Markus Söder, pictured below at Bavarian Carnival, is said to be interested in running. He's widely known across Germany and he could end up running on behalf of the Union pic.twitter.com/R90rRkY1za
— Marcel Dirsus (@marceldirsus) January 9, 2021
In short: German Christian Democrats are picking a new leader. That's important because he will probably run to become Chancellor and then become Chancellor. Fun fact: Germany has had only 3 Chancellors since 1982 (Kohl, Schröder, Merkel).
— Marcel Dirsus (@marceldirsus) January 9, 2021
Nervana 