Merkel Says Germany's Ruling CDU Party Continues Policies Of Adenauer, Kohl

BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th January, 2021) The ruling Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) has been following the policy of protecting interests not of disparate social groups, but all German citizens, as practiced by the first post-WWII German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer as well as Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who oversaw the German reunification, current Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday.

Earlier in the day, the CDU launched a two-day party conference that takes place online. During the conference, the delegates will elect a new party leader, who is likely to be the party's candidate for the chancellor's office during the general election in September. Three people are currently vying for the position: business lobbyist Friedrich Merz, Armin Laschet, the premier of the North Rhine-Westphalia state, as well as the chairman of Bundestag's foreign affairs committee, Norbert Rottgen. To win in the first round, a candidate must have at least 51 percent of the vote. If no one wins in the first round, then a runoff between the two strongest candidates is organized.

"Some parties have it easy, because they represent a separate group [of citizens], but as a national centrist party, we, of course, look for solutions to redress conflicts and support economic base and social cohesion ... This protects us from rushed judgments and answers that are too simple, which some other parties could settle for. This has always differentiated us as the ruling party. It was like that under Konrad Adenauer, it was like that under Helmut Kohl, and we in later years also attempted that," Merkel said at the opening.

The chancellor went on to wish that the conference would make the right decisions for the future.

Merkel used to lead the party herself until 2018, when she left the position while remaining the chancellor, due to the schism with the CDU long-time ally, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, over her government's migration policy.