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The decision in the Union's power struggle has been made: CDU leader Armin Laschet is candidate for chancellor, his rival Markus Söder had to back off.

Laschet's victory was preceded by days of nervous warfare between the supporters of the CDU politician from North Rhine-Westphalia and the advocates of the Bavarian CSU chairman.

What traces will the internal party dispute leave behind?

In any case, Laschet considers the press in Germany to be weakened.

The commentators abroad see the advantage in the Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock.

An overview of the press comments on the Union's K question:

"Augsburger Allgemeine": Söder seized the opportunity skillfully

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“So Söder now had the opportunity to achieve true greatness - and he seized it skillfully.

After a week full of injuries, the CSU boss was able to present himself as a reconciler who kept his word - and accepted Laschet as a candidate for chancellor.

He did that when he congratulated Laschet on Tuesday, allegedly without any resentment.

First of all, it is difficult to believe whether none of these really remain and will only become apparent in the course of the highly exciting election campaign.

Of course, Söder will also reserve the right to relish Laschet's loss in the election to point out that he was ready as a candidate, but the CDU did not want him. "

"Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger": "Laschet looks even more vulnerable"

“Laschet does not automatically emerge stronger from the power struggle.

On the contrary, it seems even more vulnerable.

As a 'reconciler', he heads a party that after 16 years Angela Merkel has to reinvent itself.

Even the first three months as CDU chairman were unhappy because he could not dispel doubts about himself.

And it is doubtful that the Union will be able to create the necessary unity after the election of candidates that got out of hand.

The Union enters the election campaign seriously traumatized.

She is struggling with trenches that cannot be filled in easily - a heavy mortgage for Laschet. "

"Junge Welt": "Abdication of the Union as a bourgeois leading party"

“The candidate hack was just another phenomenon of a fundamental process that took place below it: the abdication of the Union as the undisputed bourgeois leader. Even the election of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and her rapid failure as well as the subsequent competition of several pretenders, from which Laschet emerged as the provisional winner, are part of this state of permanent uncertainty. The corona crisis was a retarding moment because the state of emergency usually brings a bonus for the executive, headed by a CDU chancellor. This leap of faith has been lost since it turned out that the crisis is more difficult to handle than originally assumed. The scandal surrounding corrupt mask deals by Union politicians only toppled what was already wavering. "

"Leipziger Volkszeitung": "The CSU will drive Laschet around"

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“While the Greens and their top candidate stand like a boulder in the landscape, Laschet will have to fight on many fronts.

The CSU will drive Laschet in front of them.

In his home government with the liberals, too, things are likely to be more uncomfortable before the general election.

Above all, Laschet is threatened with hardship from within its own ranks.

For the Greens and the SPD, however, he is a difficult opponent.

He was and is a middle-class politician, a pro-European, a cosmopolitan Rhinelander.

With its hugging way of communicating, it offers little surface for attack. "

“Stuttgarter Zeitung”: How should a joint election campaign succeed?

“Armin Laschet, the past few days have also taught us that, has considerable taker qualities and can assert himself against resistance.

But as of today it is not clear how a joint election campaign should succeed. "

"Neue Zürcher Zeitung": "The rifts within the party have continued to grow"

“The unambiguous, by no means overwhelming result of the functionaries shows that the CDU remains a party of the committees and the apparatus.

A departure cannot be organized like this.

The rifts within the party have continued to grow.

(...)

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Neither in the east nor in the south of the republic will candidate Laschet be of great support to the election campaigners. That does not mean that the Union will lose the general election. Especially in times of the Corona, politics is the sum of snapshots. If Laschet crosses the finish line in front of the Greens and forges a coalition, he doesn't have to become a bad chancellor. As Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, he has proven that he can balance different interests.

At the moment the CDU is in a deplorable state, for which Armin Laschet is responsible in addition to Angela Merkel.

If the party chairman wants to change something, he has to do what he has failed to do so far: take programmatic pegs, overcome committee culture and find a brilliant idea why he is the right man in the right place right now - for the Union and for Germany. "

"Tages-Anzeiger": "Laschet is a risk for the Union"

“For the Union, the prospect of voting against the less popular Laschet, who was tattered by the fight with Söder, is a risk.

The CSU boss was the candidate of the heart, ”said its general secretary Markus Blume once again when Söder withdrew his application yesterday and confirmed Laschet's victory.

The undertone was clear: if you don't want the best, the voters will punish you.

Great prospects for a joint election campaign. "

"Corriere della Sera": "Laschet has a problem"

“It is a clear result, but one that reveals all doubts and uncertainties in the party about the strength of a candidacy that has not convinced anyone and, above all, that is not popular with the people. Worse still, the election ended a week of relentless struggle between the two adversaries, which revealed a conservative front that was divided, uncertain and, with the realistic prospect of losing the leadership of Germany after 16 years, almost panicked by Chancellor Merkel. (...)

Even more, the Union has to reckon with the Greens, who have nominated Annalena Baerbock, the youngest candidate for chancellorship, and who have launched a credible and ambitious challenge for the leadership of the country.

(...) Laschet has a problem.

His polls are not good and the party base fears that the Union is heading for certain defeat with him.

His popularity suffered both from an absolute lack of charisma and from an erratic and faulty management of the pandemic in his state. "

"De Volkskrant": "Laschet is a German Joe Biden"

“In a way, Armin Laschet, the man who became the top candidate of the CDU after a turbulent fight, is a German Joe Biden. A striking resemblance between the American President and the man who wants to replace Angela Merkel as Chancellor is that both seemed predestined for a second-tier position in their political life. The place for hard workers who simply lack the glamor of the winners. Joe Biden proved otherwise in November, and Armin Laschet is determined to do the same in the general election on September 26th. (...)

Now the country looks at the man from Aachen, disdainfully, doubtfully: Can he do it?

This will not surprise Laschet, he is used to seeing other people doubt his own abilities.

Used to always being underestimated.

In his long political life Laschet first learned to lose before he learned to win. "

"De Standaard": "Annalena Baerbock in particular can be satisfied"

“With the other parties, the candidates rub their hands. Above all, Annalena Baerbock, the top candidate of the Greens, can be satisfied. A new study by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, a think tank affiliated with the CDU, found that many CDU voters could vote for the Greens. (...) The gap between Laschet and Baerbock is large and the answer to the question of whether a black-green coalition can be formed after the elections has become particularly uncertain in view of the decision in favor of Laschet as the Union's top candidate. "