The CDU chairman Armin Laschet has confirmed his will to form a Jamaica coalition of the Union, Greens and FDP, but this is no longer necessarily linked to his person.

Laschet said on Thursday evening at a surprisingly scheduled appearance at the CDU party headquarters in Berlin that such an alliance would “not fail because of the person, not because of Armin Laschet”.

He called the principle that the country comes first, then the party, then the person.

Eckart Lohse

Head of the parliamentary editorial office in Berlin.

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However, the candidate for chancellor of the Union, under whose leadership the CDU and CSU had achieved the worst result in their history in a federal election, did not reveal that he wanted to return his office.

In the event that the Greens and the FDP are willing to hold talks about a joint government, the following applies: "The contact person remains the CDU chairman."

No date for the party conference yet

Laschet had already said during a video conference of the Union faction in the Bundestag on Thursday afternoon that he wanted to moderate the process of reorganization. He repeated that in the evening. He will propose to the party's executive bodies in the coming week that a party congress be convened at which the party's reorganization, including its personnel, should be regulated. The CDU chairman did not mention a date. He wants to break new ground with the personnel realignment.

As an example, he cited North Rhine-Westphalia, where “everyone” had agreed to find a candidate to succeed him as Prime Minister. The federal party wants to orientate itself on this example. The consequences that could be drawn from the poor election result of the Union should also be discussed in an internal process. This is to be done, among other things, with a district chairperson's conference. An internal commission will also be set up to discuss the causes of the election defeat and the conferences to be drawn.

A CDU spokeswoman denied a report that the CDU had already reserved a hall for the meeting in Dresden for December.

The availability of the hall was only routinely checked in August.

The CDU holds its party congresses regularly in December.

However, the most recent delegates' meeting, at which Laschet was elected, could only take place in January of this year due to the corona pandemic.

CDU ready to form a government “until the last second”

Laschet has been heavily criticized since September 26th because of the poor election results of the Union in the federal elections.

So far, no Union politicians of any weight have called for Laschet's withdrawal from the party leadership.

Internally, however, the expectation can be heard from many Union politicians that Laschet will have to vacate his post.

Laschet said the CDU was ready to form a government "until the last second" to talk about a coalition with the Greens and the FDP.

The current talks between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP will be closely monitored.

He repeated his statement that the Union had not won the Bundestag election.

The FDP and the Greens would now have to decide with whom they wanted to sound out.

He affirmed “will and desire” for a “new political project” when he called a Jamaica alliance.

This could become an “ambitious modernization alliance” that would find recognition in both urban and rural areas, in both East and West Germany.

Jamaica would also have a "strong anchor in the Federal Council," said the CDU chairman.

“We're not slamming a door,” said Laschet.

He thanked the Greens and the FDP for “good and constructive discussions.