“Better not to be a candidate”: CDU politicians are demanding consequences in the Maaßen case

In dealing with the controversial former President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and CDU direct candidate Hans-Georg Maaßen, leading CDU politicians have called for consequences.

According to the latest statements by the former head of the protection of the constitution, the chairman of the Union's workers' wing in the Bundestag, Uwe Schummer, asked the Thuringian district associations to distance themselves from Maassen's candidacy.

"Mr Maassen's candidacy is damaging the Union," said Schummer to the newspapers of the Funke media group on Tuesday.

With his unreflective remarks, every interview is "like a rolling cannonball on a ship's deck".

The nomination was "a mistake".

“My appeal to the responsible district associations: withdraw his trust in the candidacy.

Better no candidate than a bad candidate, ”said Schummer.

"Perhaps one should have given Mr. Maassen a character test"

The reason for the debate was Maassen's statements on public broadcasting, in which he accused the “Tagesschau” and its employees, in particular, of connections to the left-wing extremist scene and called for an investigation.

Maaßen did not give concrete examples or evidence for his allegations or names.

After the attacks, there was also clear criticism from within, including calls for a party expulsion process.

The North Rhine-Westphalian European Parliamentarian Dennis Radtke (CDU) also called on Maaßen to give up his candidacy for a direct mandate and to resign from the party. "When Mr. Maassen feels a last remnant of ties to the CDU, he should give back his candidacy and leave the party," said Radtke the Funke newspapers. "Perhaps one should have subjected Mr. Maaßen to a character test before he was set up - then we would have been spared a lot."

Outside the Union, the pressure on Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet is growing. The top candidate of the left, Dietmar Bartsch, accused the CDU party leader of not distancing himself sufficiently from Maassen. "The fact that Armin Laschet would apparently let himself be elected Chancellor by a Member of Parliament Maassen is simply shameful," said Bartsch of the Düsseldorf "Rheinische Post". The authority of the CDU chairman is probably not sufficient "to seal off the CDU from the far right". Laschet does not clearly delimit himself from Mr. Maaßen, this should in fact be seen as approval.

CDU Deputy Chief Julia Klöckner, on the other hand, defended Laschet in the “Rheinische Post”: “Our relationship as CDU to public broadcasting is clear: Neither opinion tests nor influence are compatible with the freedom of the press.” The Union assumes that “the public -Legal based on research, on facts and not on personal policy preferences ”. It is good that "Armin Laschet has clearly positioned himself here," emphasized Klöckner.