Frankfurt: CDU debates party chairmanship
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fromFlorian Leclerc
shut down
In the Gallus hall, Bettina Wiesmann and Uwe Becker, the most promising candidates for party leadership, were on their own.
Who should lead the Frankfurt CDU in the future? Before the party conference on March 12, at which the delegates will elect the new district chairpersons, the only two candidates presented themselves on Thursday evening in the Saalbau Gallus: Bettina Wiesmann (55), the former member of the Bundestag, and Uwe Becker (52 ), the Hessian State Secretary for Europe. It was the first of three events intended to offer CDU members the opportunity for discussion.
Almost 30 of the 2,636 CDU members came to the two-hour event and asked Wiesmann and Becker about the mayoral election, party finances and the first official act. There was agreement: it was too early to talk about the mayor candidate; the district board had to be set up powerfully; the party treasury should be supplemented with donations.
Wiesmann promoted her nine-point program for the renewal of the Frankfurt CDU, which she presented in December. 70 members have already signed. “We need a fresh start, a real departure in order to win elections again in the state elections,” she said. Internally, more participation is needed, externally more presence in urban society. She recommended to the CDU a big city profile that should also appeal to migrants. Wiesmann promoted powerful campaigns and good networking with the various levels of the party, for example at the state and federal level.
The incumbent party leader Jan Schneider (40) initially explained why he did not want to run again. The CDU lost the local elections and the federal elections, in the city the CDU was sent into the opposition. “Voters also expect a party to make it clear that they have understood: we take the will of the voters and the memo seriously.”
Uwe Becker, who is deputy party chairman and was party chairman from 2012 to 2017, knows that large parts of the party are behind him. The employee-friendly wing CDA, to which Becker belongs, has spoken out in favor of him. Also the business-friendly wing MIT – and not for Bettina Wiesmann, who belongs to the association of medium-sized companies. Becker announced that he wanted to make the Frankfurt CDU the strongest force in the city again. He advertised with his experience and his network at institutions, in clubs, at decision-makers. “We have to make our politics close to the people.”
In transport policy, the CDU should not leave the debate to the “ideologues”: “Red color on the street does not replace transport policy.” The CDU stands for a strong economy, for freedom, sustainability and values. On February 16th in the Saalbau Ronneburg and on February 21st in the Saalbau Südbahnhof, both at 7 p.m., Wiesmann and Becker will present themselves again.