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The CDU has elected Armin Laschet as its next chairman.
Thus, after the election of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in 2018, the party repeatedly opted for maximum continuity.
At the same time, a candidate is elected who represents the party in its entirety.
Laschet stands for the fight against clan crime, just as he cultivates the socio-political profile of the former integration minister.
He enjoys a very good reputation with the FDP, where his economic and digital policy in North Rhine-Westphalia is expressly praised.
Johannes Reck is the founder and head of the travel agent GetYourGuide
Source: GetYourGuide
But it can also be conveyed to the Greens: Like no other CDU candidate, Armin Laschet stands for an open and diverse society and for deepening the European Union.
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Compared to Friedrich Merz, Laschet's leadership style is integrative and not confrontational.
While Merz placed the emphasis of his candidacy on the upcoming challenges, Laschet was primarily concerned with the confidence of the delegates.
His supporters appreciate his ability to listen and to constructively connect the various groups of the CDU.
In short, the CDU has elected the chairman who keeps most options open to them and offers many points of contact.
In all of these points he is fully in the legacy of Angela Merkel.
But Armin Laschet and the CDU should not indulge in false illusions.
Germany in 2021 is at a completely different point than at the beginning of the Merkel era.
While Gerhard Schröder ushered in the success of the Merkel years with the tough labor market reforms of Agenda 2010, Germany under the leadership of the CDU has slept through all the major changes over the past 15 years and has lost an enormous amount of competitiveness.
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At the beginning of Angela Merkel's aegis, our large companies were still global beacons and medium-sized companies were the backbone of the German economy. In the meantime, there has been a tectonic shift towards American Silicon Valley companies.
We would hardly have gotten through the lockdown without Google, Zoom and Amazon.
Tesla is now worth more than the entire European automotive industry, and China has long overtaken us in the fields of artificial intelligence, robotics and electric mobility.
After the pandemic, it will be a tremendous effort to get our stagnant economy back on track through innovation and smart investment.
And that's not all: the existential crisis of the EU, the unresolved migration issue, the lack of digital and education policy have all not been strategically thought through.
Both in the CDU and in the government there is a blatant lack of leadership skills.
There has long been no problem of understanding any of these points among the MEPs of the Union, but nonetheless an inexplicable problem of implementation.
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It will now be Armin Laschet's job to finally work out long-term strategies, set up the right staff and, if he is elected Chancellor in autumn, to implement them quickly.
It is not an easy legacy, and yet at the crucial moments - like in this party congress speech - he showed that he can surprise us.
Perhaps this is precisely where his strength lies and the wisdom of today's choice.
Johannes Reck is the founder and head of the travel agent GetYourGuide.