The head of the youth wing of the CDU/CSU warned about the threat of extinction of the party

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, may disappear if it does not change its current course, said the head of the youth wing of the ruling CDU/CSU bloc in Germany, Johannes Winkel.

"Parties that don't change die. It's simple," Winkel said in an interview with Bild columnist Paul Ronzheimer, commenting on the CDU's prospects after defeat in elections in Berlin, as well as in the federal states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony-Anhalt.

Winkel explained that unless the party radically changes, citizens will have no reason to vote for it.

The head of the youth wing of the CDU/CSU expressed the opinion that a significant part of the responsibility for the crisis within Merz’s party lies with the chancellor himself. He noted that Merz himself acknowledges the validity of the criticism addressed to him.

“If everything continues as before, then the answer is very simple: (the party - ed.) will not succeed,” Winkel emphasized, answering the question of whether the CDU will be able to turn the situation around if Merz remains its leader.

The CDU, led by Merz, was defeated in the September 6 elections to the regional parliament (Landtag) of Saxony-Anhalt, where it received only 17.2% of the vote. In Berlin, following the September 20 elections to the Chamber of Deputies, the party lost first place to the Left. On the same day, in the elections to the Landtag of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the CDU was eliminated from the regional parliament for the first time in its history, failing to overcome the five percent threshold.