Kramp-Karrenbauers first exam as CDU boss: Harmony first

The fact that it lately takes longer, when the governing bodies of the CDU come together, has formal reasons: Previously reported Angela Merkel to kick off the meetings in personal union as chairman and Chancellor, since the Hamburg Party Congress in December, she is the first office going - now reported first her successor Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on the concerns of the party, Chancellor Merkel is only later off.

But it was not just that in Potsdam, where the CDU had rented overnight for the board meeting at the Kongresshotel am Templiner See, they spent a very long time with the official part of the evening. It is the express wish of the new chairman Kramp-Karrenbauer, that more is being discussed - in case of doubt, that is at the expense of the cozy part. However, the hotel bar was open until the early morning, in the end everyone could get their money's worth (and Kramp-Karrenbauer and their newly elected secretary general Paul Ziemiak should also have been among the last guests).

For Kramp-Karrenbauer the work as CDU boss really begins only with the Potsdam retreat. After the grueling party congress in December, in which she prevailed just against Friedrich Merz, and the politically turbulent year 2018, not much happened. Party like chairpersons could breathe over Christmas and New Year's Eve.

Already on the occasion of the New Year's Eve meeting of the CSU regional group, Kramp-Karrenbauer returned with her visit to Kloster Seeon, and so now her own serve on the grounds of the former airship port in the south of Potsdam. The party leader, however, is of the opinion that they have "taken the momentum" from last year. So the momentum of the regional conferences, on which the CDU revived thanks to the chairman-three fight between Kramp-Karrenbauer, Merz and Jens Spahn.

Kramp-Karrenbauer wants more debate in her party - and less from above. This also includes, for example, that in Potsdam, unlike earlier retreats, there is no previously written explanation that the party friends then only have to agree. This time no explanation will be distributed, just a two-page working paper focusing on the CDU's focus and a list of important dates on another page.

Economy, security, 30 years of the fall of the Berlin Wall - this will be the focus of the CDU in 2019, plus work on the basic program and the elections this year, starting with the European elections at the end of May, the election in Bremen and ten local elections and the state elections in Saxony, Brandenburg and Thuringia in autumn.

Joint appearance with Weber

If there is a message from Potsdam, then it is an unofficial: closure. Thus, the CDU joins without hesitation to the New Year's Examination of the Bavarian sister party in the snow-covered Chiemgau. In fact, the Union parties want to bring it together so far this year, to which the joint leading candidate in the European elections, the CSU politician Manfred Weber, should contribute significantly. Weber was a guest in Seeon, now he is also in the CDU and will be unanimously nominated by the board on Monday morning as a top man.

The head of the EPP Group in the European Parliament and Kramp Karrenbauer then give a short joint press conference - the two understand each other. Weber was one of the few last summer that had a moderating effect on the CSU side, when it nearly came to the break of the sister parties.

"At the beginning of 2019, Germany is a stable country with a functioning community, political stability and prosperity, sustained by sustained economic growth and a healthy state of the labor market," says the working paper of the CDU executive board. "That's not self-evident, given the developments and debates in Europe and beyond." Accordingly, this year could be turbulent with regard to Brexit, US President Donald Trump and other difficult to interpret international players.

Keyword Stability - that's why the regional elections in East Germany are so important for the new CDU leader and her party: There, the AfD either threatened to rank number one or could at least make the formation of coalitions almost impossible. For this reason, the topic of land rent plays a major role in Potsdam, from the point of view of the East German election campaign could score so with the citizens who get because of their divided between GDR and FRG employment histories too little pension.

Kramp-Karrenbauer is therefore putting pressure on the Federal Government, she could also imagine tax relief, and the CDU leader insists on the complete abolition of the solidarity surcharge in this legislative period.

No interest in further debate about Merz

And then there is the eternal theme of refugee policy. For this, Kramp-Karrenbauer has come up with a "workshop talk", in which the CDU wants to discuss after their words on 10 and 11 February "what works and what does not work". Above all, experts should report - but in which circle, whether publicly or not and whether, with the participation of Chancellor Merkel, that is open. "Detailed planning is still going on," she says. At a settlement with Merkel while many should have an interest in the party.

Kramp-Karrenbauer certainly not.

Also in the further debate about the personality of Merz, the party leader has visibly no more interest. Most recently, there had been irritation after the two had agreed on a kind of advisory role for Merz. Kramp-Karrenbauer reported on the Sunday evening in the board of the talks, there were reportedly no comments. Even some previous fan of Merz from the panel is increasingly annoyed by its behavior since the party congress.

Kramp-Karrenbauer says at the closing press conference only one sentence on the subject: It was in the exam exclusively to "political issues and not personal data."

Harmony first.