What comes after Merkel? Laschet and Spahn present their program

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North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet and Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) have presented a program for the CDU after the era of Angela Merkel.

In it they call on their party to "make the 1920s a decade of modernization for Germany".

The impulse paper, which n-tv first reported on Sunday and which is available to the German Press Agency, was sent to the CDU district chairmen, the state and Bundestag members and the CDU's European parliamentarians.

Laschet and Spahn call for a “digital ministry that deserves its name”.

Start-ups are to be promoted, they promise the economy a "burden moratorium".

Compulsory schooling for young people without qualifications

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They also propose an extension of compulsory schooling for 16 to 18 year olds without a school leaving certificate.

As a lesson from the corona pandemic, they want to expand health authorities and home office capacities in companies and administration.

Laschet and Spahn do not make any specific reference to the race for the CDU chairmanship.

The NRW Prime Minister is one of the candidates who want to stand on January 16 at a digital party conference.

Spahn supports this candidacy.

In addition to Laschet, the former Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz and the CDU external expert Norbert Röttgen apply.

In their paper, the candidates Laschet and Spahn promise the Christian Democratic Party, among other things, a strengthening of the participation of the members, open debates and a “clear demarcation to the right”.

In addition, they emphasize in the accompanying letter that the party and its program must determine government action, not the other way around.

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Röttgen are currently given fewer opportunities.

In the event of a defeat, he does not want to make a recommendation for a runoff election of his competitors, as he told the Funke newspapers.

"I would not presume, as an unsuccessful candidate, to give the delegates any advice."

Both Röttgen and Merz want to quickly approach CSU boss Markus Söder in the event of a victory to clarify the question of the candidate for chancellor.

Merz reaffirmed his party's right to stand for candidacy.

“Historically, the CSU has put the candidate for chancellor when larger parts of the CDU wanted that too,” he said.