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At a virtual party conference today, the CDU will decide the race to succeed Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer at the top of the CDU.

The three candidates Friedrich Merz, the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Armin Laschet and foreign politician Norbert Roettgen made their different visions clear one last time in speeches to the delegates.

After a first ballot, Laschet and Merz will go into the runoff election.

Armin Laschet, 59 years old, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia

Laschet positioned himself as the middle candidate in his speech.

"Maybe I am not the man of the perfect production, I am Armin Laschet - and you can rely on that," said Laschet during his application speech.

The choice is about who people can trust.

He presented himself as a Prime Minister with experience in government and a man in the political center.

“We have to speak plainly, but not polarize,” said the Prime Minister.

Politicians should be able to integrate and hold society together.

“It's hard work,” said Laschet.

To do this, they would have to listen to people and also seek compromises. 

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Anyone can polarize.

“The CDU, the Germany that I have in mind, does not need a CEO or a chairman of the board, but a team captain.

It leads and brings us together, and a team in which everyone can rely on each other, ”he continued - a clear nod to his competitor, Friedrich Merz.

Friedrich Merz, 65 years old, former Union parliamentary group leader in the Bundestag

In his application speech to the delegates of the CDU party congress, the former parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz presented himself as a contentious politician with clear principles.

His claim is "the leadership of this party, but also the leadership of our country," said Merz.

"I will challenge myself personally - but so will you."

If necessary, he would represent his convictions in a dispute, said Merz.

"I did not join a mediation agency," said the former Union parliamentary group leader.

At the age of 16, he “joined a party that has principles” and “fights passionately” for them.

He is ready for that.

“In a democracy, we have to fight with passion for measure and balance, for consensus and compromise, and if necessary, arguments too,” said Merz.

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And then Merz wanted to “say a word about women.

I hear and read, not in our party, I have an old image (of women) in mind.

If that were the case, my daughters would have shown me the yellow card long ago and my wife would not have married me 40 years ago. "

Norbert Röttgen, 55 years old, ex-Federal Environment Minister

In his speech, Norbert Röttgen presented himself as a modernizer who would make his party fit for the future.

Röttgen said he wanted the CDU to become “the party of future competence”.

The CDU will only remain a people's party if it changes.

To do this, she must become more feminine, younger and as digital as at the party congress.

The status quo is not enough, said Röttgen.

The CDU must make an offer for new milieus.

He dares to “win new voters”.

At the same time he invoked the unity of the party.

It is "not a warehouse", says Röttgen, alluding to his competitors.

While Merz is assigned to the conservative camp of the Union, Laschet is considered a liberal who wants to continue the course of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"I'm not a warehouse, I want to integrate, I can integrate," said Röttgen.

"We have to become more feminine, younger and more digital"

At a digital party congress on Saturday, the CDU will elect a new chairman and thus the successor to Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

See Norbert Röttgen's application speech in full here.

Source: WORLD