Maybe he is not the person who performs the best play…

Credit line: Odd ANDERSEN / AFP / Profimedia

For many analysts and journalists in Germany, these intra-party elections were "elections for the soul of the CDU"

To those who hoped that the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Angela Merkel's party, would embark on a new path that could change the course of the whole of Germany, and thus the Old Continent, the results of the intra-party elections they brought them disappointment.

The only one of the three candidates who do not offer a different vision, goal and direction of the elections won. Candidates for the German chancellor's successors include the conservative Friedrich Merz, a man who sees Germany's future in its not-so-distant past, and Norbert Retgen, a politician of modern ideas who wants to modernize the CDU. But party delegates elected Armin Lashet.

In his speech before the decisive vote, when he defeated Merz in the second round with a result of 521 against 466 votes, Lashett said that "he may not be the man who performs the best, but he is Armin Lashett", with special messages about his background, his miner father, the working family and the "true, folk spirit".

After the vote, he said in a victory speech that "more important elections are yet to come", although a message from Marcus Zeder, the CSU leader and CDU coalition partner, indicated that co-operation would continue, so Lashet could easily become the new chancellor. .

For many analysts and journalists in Germany, these intra-party elections were "elections for the soul of the CDU."

Lashett has repeatedly said that he wants to preserve the status of the CDU as the last popular party in Germany, which gathers around it hardline conservatives, green, civic-minded, liberals, all under the same hat, whose inside, hidden, reads - "Made by Angela “.

Merz, meanwhile, has argued that he wants the CDU to create a more conservative party, as it once was, capable of regaining the trust of right-wing deserters who have fled the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) or stopped voting altogether. Conservatives in the CDU are unhappy with this result, believing that they have completely lost "recognizable energy and identity" during Angela Merkel's term.

New CDU leader Armin Lachette has been elected at the 33rd Party Congress held on January 16, 2021 in Berlin / Photo: Odd ANDERSEN / AFP / Profimedia

Perhaps that position was best described by Bild Editor-in-Chief Julian Reichelt. For him, Angela Merkel, with the myth created around her, is a symbol of the depoliticization of German society, as someone who managed to reverse the milestones between conservatives and liberals.. According to him, the German chancellor has been stealing from her rivals for less than two decades by taking over their political platforms.

During all this time, Lachette was her faithful companion and always loyal partner. But could this cause problems for Germany in the near future?

A few years ago, Lashett warned that it was not good to "demonize Vladimir Putin over the annexation of Crimea," repeatedly criticized Washington for supporting rebels in Syria seeking to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, and defended Huawei.

However, his close associates claim that it is one thing when someone goes public as the prime minister of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, and quite another when you write your speeches from the German chancellor's office.

Taken from "Nedeljnik" from Belgrade

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