At its Germany Day, the Junge Union presents itself as the hope of the badly hit Union. Today the person who is largely blamed for the crisis is appearing there.
JU leader Johannes Winkel calls for a signal of departure from the party's young talent. Photo: Henning Kaiser/dpa
Bonn. The ailing Chancellor Friedrich Merz will meet a self-confident party youth at the Junge Union's Germany Day in Bonn today. “Our generation still has a lot of plans for this Union,” said the JU chairman in the evening at the start of the Germany Day of the young people of the CDU and CSU. “And we will be the ones who successfully continue to write the history of the People’s Party of the CDU and CSU.”
The self-confidence of the youth organization in the midst of the CDU's deep crisis was also reflected in the result of Winkel's re-election as JU leader. According to the counting commission, he received 265 of 283 valid votes. Without the two abstentions, which, unlike other parties, are not counted in the Union, the 34-year-old lawyer achieved 94.3 percent approval. In 2024, Winkel received 90.5 percent of the delegate votes. In his first election in November 2022 it was 87.0 percent.
“Don’t let Schwesig teach us”
Winkel began his speech with a sharp attack against Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig. Alluding to her previous commitment to the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline, he accused her of “letting herself be bought by Russia.” Winkel once again rejected Schwesig's allegations that the CDU had dealt "inhumanely" with Labor Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD), who resigned after the death of her stepdaughter. “We will definitely not let Manuela Schwesig lecture us when it comes to decency and attitude in German politics.”
Winkel also clearly differentiated himself from the AfD. As long as it “adopts nationalistic positions and brings extremists into its ranks, we will not work with this party,” he emphasized. “For me, this is a question of character and not of poll numbers.”
Wüst speaks of “a shame for the capital”
Before him, North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) was the first prominent guest at Germany Day to warn against political extremists from the left and right. He particularly sharply criticized the explorations by the Left, the Greens and the SPD after the Left's election victory in Berlin.
“The negotiations in Berlin with the aim of bringing the left to power are a disgrace for the capital of the Federal Republic of Germany,” Wüst called out to the delegates. "The poison of anti-Semitism has seeped deep into the Berlin left. It is now up to the SPD and the Greens to end this shame."
Open confrontation at Merz's last appearance at JU
Wüst, who is considered a possible successor to Merz in the Chancellery, received a minute and a half of standing applause for his speech. It is now eagerly awaited to see how Merz performs in his speech on Saturday morning. He had a heated argument with the delegates last year.
At that time, the JU opposed the black-red government's pension package, which was then only passed through the Bundestag with a lot of hassle. Since then, the Chancellor has significantly lost authority in his party, mainly due to the series of defeats in the state elections in September and poor poll numbers.
Related topics
CDUFfriedrich MerzCSUSPDHendrik WüstBerlin
Finally, Söder speaks
On Sunday, the second Prime Minister will be a guest at the Junge Union, who is being discussed as a possible successor to Merz: CSU boss Markus Söder. He has the advantage of being able to react to the previous speakers.
However, Winkel emphasized at a press conference in Bonn that Germany Day would not be a showcase for possible candidates for the Chancellery. "We are not the applause meter for any decibel meters here. (...) This is not a chancellor casting," he said. “We do our own thing.”
Published according to the editorial standards of the Handelsblatt. You can find more information in our guidelines.
