FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
BERLIN – There is frost between Angela Merkele and her party, the CDU. In addition, a prominent conservative politician, who remains anonymous, tells Spiegel that it is an “ice age,” even a “break.”
The former chancellor left the party foundation, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS). The think tank is one of the most renowned in Europe, the “intellectual” arm of the CDU: an association of politicians and personalities close to the conservatives, who fund research and maintain relationships across Europe. Only 55 members sit on the board, often for life. And in order for a new member to be accepted in the elections every three years, a position must remain vacant. Merkel's post will be taken over by her successor – and internal opponent in the CDU – Federal President Friedrich Merz.
It was the former chancellor who wanted to leave. Norbert Lammert, the president of the KAS, asked for a meeting to persuade them to stay. But Merkel remained stubborn and replied to Lammert that she had “now outgrown this role”. She also rejected the foundation’s simple title of “friend.” A decision, according to Merkel, that is consistent with her public statements that she wants to leave active politics and devote herself to something else. At what? “Get some sleep and then see what really interests me,” she replied as she received an honorary doctorate from Johns Hopkins in Washington. But Merkel's clear cut and her departure from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation – which was defined as the “Merkel students' club” for all the friends she brought onto the board – have angered the conservatives, who describe her as ungrateful . In the meantime, together with her trusted and silent secretary Beate Baumann, she is writing the memoirs, which will be published next fall. Will he answer or rather give his version of many of the decisions of his years?
It is not known what broke out between Merkel and the CDU. Nothing has been made public. One can only imagine how important the surprise election losses were two years ago, when Merkel supported Armin Laschet as candidate for chancellor against Merz's hard wing, a decision that proved disastrous and brought the SPD into government.
How strong are personal feelings of hatred and resentment? Of course, one cannot help but think of a party that devours and denies its leaders. It's hard not to think of Helmut Kohl, who was cast out, or rather killed, in the torturous affair surrounding the CDU's illicit coffers at the end of the 1990s. And one cannot help but remember that it was Angela Merkel, “the girl protected by the Chancellor,” who dealt him the final blow when she was the first to say in a letter to a newspaper that for the good of the CDU Helmut Kohl had to go. Fates that follow and repeat each other? Only this time it is Merkel who is closing the door.
Today's CDU is a long way from him. In a newly released programmatic draft, Merz's men have undone Merkel's legacy. The result is a more right-wing, identity-based party like those before it. There is a U-turn, especially when it comes to immigration: the text opens centers for the selection of refugees in third countries outside the EU, while “a coalition of the willing” will then take over the admission into Europe of those who meet the requirements. Albania model or Rwanda model. Editorials appear in the conservative press saying that Merkel has damaged the CDU and drained it of ideas and content. What Merkel did in this party and why was a question that often accompanied her in the final phase. Perhaps his biography will tell us something if it allows us to learn a little more about his very long and enigmatic leadership.