CDU party congress in Giessen: "The country needs a stable government under the leadership of the CDU"

Chancellery Minister Helge Braun is once again leading the Hessian CDU into the federal election campaign.

The 48-year-old man from Giessen received 98 of 99 votes, or around 99 percent, during the Christian Democrats' party conference on Saturday in the Giessen congress hall.

In 2017, Braun received 93.5 percent of the votes cast and was thus able to improve its result.

On the list positions two to five follow the Odenwald member of the Bundestag and budget politician Patricia Lips (95 votes), the State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Education Michael Meister (Bergstrasse, 95 votes), the chairman of the Hessian regional group, Michael Brand (Fulda, 99 votes) and the deputy group chairman Katja Leikert (Main-Kinzig-Kreis, 83 votes). Hesse's prime minister, CDU state chairman and deputy federal chairman Volker Bouffier was combative in his speech and received long applause from the delegates. "We will not be satisfied with 28 or 29 percent," Bouffier clarified and said: "We are looking forward to this election campaign we will win it. ”It is a matter of gaining more than 30 percent of the votes.Bouffier urged the delegates to campaign hard.

During his speech, Bouffier did not mention the scandal surrounding right-wing chats with the Hessian police, which is putting party friend and interior minister Peter Beuth under pressure. The Prime Minister focused on the start of the election campaign. “For more than ten years, the Hessian CDU has always carried out every election in first place. We don't just want to play in this election, we want to be the clear winner in Hessen and Germany, ”said Bouffier. He recalled the state election last week in Saxony-Anhalt, which was also a great success for the entire CDU. The clear position on the AfD and a policy that is oriented towards the interests of the citizens is the agenda that stands for this success.

"Even the trees of the Greens do not grow into the sky," said Bouffier, referring to the new polls for the Greens, who govern Hesse together with the CDU. The Prime Minister criticized the Social Democrats more sharply. The SPD wanted to govern the country, but had again not even received ten percent of the vote in an election. You have to deal with the question of why you have not only lost orientation, but also the voters.

At the beginning of the event, CDU Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet addressed the delegates in a video greeting and spoke of a new dynamic for Germany.

It's about turning the 20s into a decade of modernization.

Laschet promised to reconcile economy and ecology.

“A clear Christian Democratic edge, that's us,” said the candidate for chancellor.

He reckons with an intense election campaign, which can be achieved if the CDU sticks to its ideas.

A red-red-green alliance in Berlin would gamble away all modernization opportunities for the country, warned Laschet.

"This is climate protection"

The Hessian CDU regional group currently has 17 members in the Bundestag, but all of them were directly elected in their constituency. At the same time, the state list is not without significance, because the growing Greens could definitely win electoral districts, especially in urban milieus. Top candidate Braun positioned the Christian Democrats accordingly in his application speech and spoke out in favor of reliable international relations, which are existentially important for a trading nation like Germany.

The CDU is the only party that can secure Germany's export opportunities in the future. This also applies to the European challenges that could only be mastered with the CDU in government, he was convinced. "We need IT systems that you can rely on," said Braun, referring to the slowdown in digitization. The success of the digital revolution and the creation of digital competence are also a question of Europe's future sovereignty. Germany must invent the technologies necessary for climate protection and sell them all over the world. “This is climate protection,” said Braun. In order for Germany to recover quickly after the Corona crisis, the country needs a stable government under the leadership of the CDU.

In Giessen, the delegates drew up the state list consisting of 53 Christian Democrats. There were no opponents. After the election, Bouffier and Braun went to Berlin to work on the Union's election campaign program, which is to be presented on June 26th.