Armin Laschet opens up for discussion with the Junge Union (JU).

Unlike Markus Söder, he came to Münster to join the joint CDU and CSU youth organization.

At the JU, they give Laschet high credit for that, which becomes clear when he moves into the hall in Münster.

The JU federal chairman Tilman Kuban says that Laschet shows “true greatness” and his “very strong character”.

Tobias Schrörs

Political Editor.

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“It's always good to be with the Junge Union,” Laschet opens his speech;

even if it was arduous and he would have liked to come under different auspices.

In his speech, Laschet prepares for the discussion that will follow.

"As chairman and candidate for chancellor, I am responsible for this bitter result," he says with a view to the general election.

"Yes, I can wear sneakers now"

Laschet repeatedly reaps interim applause, he even manages to laugh.

When he talks about the positive experiences with the JU during the election campaign and thanks it, he also mentions sneakers that he received as a gift.

He's not wearing them now, says Laschet, looking down at himself.

“Yes, I can now wear sneakers.” He laughs, they laugh along with them - and clap.

Immediately afterwards, things get serious again. The party leader prepares the young people for the role of the opposition, only the "very few" in the Union know what the opposition is. He advocates a “clear error analysis”. He does not share the fact that the Union is a total restructuring case, as Merz said the previous evening, adds Laschet.

Laschet speaks directly to the state chairman of the JU in North Rhine-Westphalia, Johannes Winkel.

Because he had criticized heavily the night before - at Laschet and Söder.

"Anyone who appears in the election campaign like Armin Laschet shouldn't claim to become chancellor directly after the election, but above all should take responsibility for the result," said the country manager on Friday evening to the applause of the delegates.

"And whoever follows in the election campaign like Markus Söder shouldn't talk about questions of style after the election, but go to confession."

Yes, that could be criticized, says Laschet on Saturday.

But the situation was not so clear on election Sunday.

"And I still believe, regardless of myself, that Jamaica would have been an interesting offer to the public." Now everything points to a traffic light.

This weekend, the Junge Union is discussing an application from the federal executive committee, which calls for the next chairman of the CDU to be determined in a member survey if there are several candidates.

On October 30th, the district chairmen will decide at a conference whether there will be a primary election.

Laschet does not rule this out, but defends the federal party congress, whose task is the election of a chairman.

Some said that decisions were always made on the basis of the grassroots, Laschet introduces his remarks on the subject.

Some clap - out of contradiction.

"Be careful," says Laschet.

Federal party conferences are "still a very good tool for mapping the breadth of the party".

Criticism of piercing

Laschet received a lot of approval for his criticism of piercing from meetings of the party leadership.

"The fact that you can read the CDU federal executive in the live ticker was the beginning of a weakening in the election campaign," he says.

There is applause for that.

"Now there is a ban on cell phones here," he said at the most recent meeting of the presidium on Monday, says Laschet.

Sometimes he can also make announcements: "As long as I am CDU chairman, this cell phone ban applies."

On Saturday Laschet will also speak about the President of the Bundestag.

“I have to say a sentence to Wolfgang Schäuble,” he says.

He rejects representations that Schäuble had decided who should be candidate for chancellor.

"Don't let this legend persuade you."

Laschet indirectly approaches the state chairman of the Junge Union in Bavaria, Christian Doleschal, sharply - without naming him.

Doleschal had told the magazine Der Spiegel that Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauers and Peter Altmaier's waiver of their mandates deserved great respect.

“Others should take this courageous step in the service of a renewal of the Union.

Above all, those who have been in the Bundestag for several decades should think about this - for example Wolfgang Schäuble. "

Laschet says of Schäuble that such a man did not deserve to be pushed out of office by anyone.

"I will not tolerate it." Like so many this weekend, he urged unity with a view to the upcoming state elections in Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony.

Söder reports from the sidelines

After Laschet's speech, the young people stand in line at the microphone to discuss with him.

One accuses Laschet of taking a cuddle course during the election campaign, which was wrong.

Another complains about the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus.

This is a "job-creation program for JUers and CDUs who have been exchanged," he says.

“My problem is this Berlin bubble.” He's taking the criticism of the Adenauer house with him, says Laschet.

He would “not quite divide” her as she was expressed.

But the party headquarters must also be reorganized.

Söder, however, prefers to comment on the events from the sidelines at the weekend.

"In terms of style and content, we should move closer together again instead of talking publicly about each other," Söder told the newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

"The CSU will therefore not give any public advice, but - if so desired - help to stabilize the Union." You have "a common bourgeois idea," says the CSU boss.

When asked about the latest accusations from the CSU in the direction of the CDU and the Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet, Söder does not respond directly - he emphasizes: "We need a new way of working together."