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Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) praised the election campaign for the CDU chairmanship in his greeting.
Friedrich Merz, Armin Laschet and Norbert Röttgen described Söder at the digital CDU party congress as "three very good, excellent candidates".
He added: "Whether with Friedrich Merz, Armin Laschet, or Norbert Röttgen - I can, we can work together great."
In his address, Söder drew a bow from the corona crisis to the federal election.
He warned again that, given the current polls, the Union would be too confident of winning the federal election.
It is a completely new challenge to campaign without Chancellor Angela Merkel as the top candidate.
In addition, the pandemic has "changed more than we think" in society.
In the evening, the CDU's two-day party conference began, largely digitally.
For this purpose, the CDU uses a party conference studio on the grounds of Messe Berlin.
A special party conference originally planned for the end of April and a party conference in December had been canceled due to the Corona crisis.