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Berlin (dpa) - Friedrich Merz, who was just inferior in the struggle for the CDU chairmanship, surprisingly clearly called on his voters at the online party conference and all CDU members to support the new party leader Armin Laschet.
«I ask all delegates to take part in the final written vote and to give our new chairman Armin Laschet a strong vote.
And then we go to work together, ”says one of the dpa letters from Merz to the CDU members.
He does not comment on the Union candidate for chancellor.
After Merz Laschet offered on Saturday, shortly after his defeat, to take over the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the current government of Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), he now wrote that a year ago the CDU leadership had proposed to him to work in the party very specifically.
"I was and still am open to this thought."
Merz added: "At the same time, I very much regret that there were irritations around me over the weekend in this context."
He wanted to make it clear: "Even without an office, I will keep my promise to continue working for the party."
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Merz's advance had caused incomprehension even in the ranks of his supporters.
Merkel immediately rejected Merz's offer.
As CDU chairman, she ousted Merz from the position of parliamentary group chairman in the Bundestag in 2002.
The relationship between Merkel and Merz has since been considered shattered.
Merz appealed to the CDU members: "We should now support Armin Laschet with all our strength in his responsible task."
The Union «needs unity and good cooperation, and we must fight together: for our convictions and for our country».
If the party does not do this, “Germany threatens to slide into right-wing populism or green-left neo-socialism.
Our country would be seriously damaged. "
Merz continued to write that the country's economic situation was serious because of the corona pandemic.
"That is why we cannot leave Germany to red-red-green experiments at this historic hour."
The CDU is used as a “power of the center, freedom, reason”, it must embody the upswing perspective.
“Germany is about to make a comeback of innovations and is not leaving the future to America and China alone.
That's why the CDU can count on me in the future.
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At an online party congress on Saturday, Laschet narrowly prevailed over Merz in a “digital preselection” by runoff with a lead of 55 votes.
The result of the postal vote, which is then required for legal reasons, is to be announced this Friday.
In a newsletter emailed to his followers on Monday evening shortly after the letter to the CDU members, Merz wrote under the subject “#MerzMail 30: I'll continue!” That he “remains available despite my renewed defeat in the vote for the party chairmanship stand to help the CDU to win the next elections ».
He could bring the expertise of the CDU Economic Council, whose Vice-President Merz is, to the preparation of the federal election campaign.
The 65-year-old added: "That will work in the next few months even without a political office."
This sentence makes you sit up and take notice: Merz could at least keep the option open to apply for such an office after all.
It is as good as impossible that Merkel will bring him into her cabinet.
Merz did not apply for a place in the CDU leadership on Saturday.
In principle, it would be possible for him to seek a ministerial position in a Union-led government after the federal election.
It is also conceivable that Merz wants to keep a candidate for chancellor open - it is known that he always trusts himself to be chancellor.
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On Monday, the head of the Union of Values, Alexander Mitsch, spoke out in favor of a team solution from Laschet as party leader and Merz as chancellor candidate.
With the election of Laschet, the functionaries had massively ignored the vote of the party base at the party congress.
The union of values is considered a conservative splinter group of the CDU.
In his letter, Merz does not mention the upcoming debate in the Union over the next few weeks about the joint candidacy for chancellor of the CDU and CSU.
Most recently, CSU boss Markus Söder was far ahead of Merz and Laschet in surveys on the subject.
In the speculation newsletter, Merz denied that after the second defeat in the struggle for party leadership - in 2018 he was defeated by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in a runoff - he could turn to another party, possibly the FDP.
"Despite all the offers and requests to support one of our political competitors or even to step in there: I'm staying in the CDU!" Emphasized Merz.
CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak asked the delegates in an email to which the Merz letter was attached to trust the new federal board elected at the party congress - “with Armin Laschet at the helm as team captain”.
Together, they want to take on responsibility in a modern people's party, "which is united in unity and acknowledges that politics must come from the center of society and not from its fringes."
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210119-99-78535 / 3