Jens Spahn, now leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and once Merkel’s health minister, struck a similar tone. “A party congress is a moment of positioning, but it’s also a family celebration,” he said. “And Angela Merkel is part of the family.”
Volker Kauder, Merkel’s longtime parliamentary floor leader, put it bluntly: “The party wants unity, not dispute.” And Saxony’s state premier, Michael Kretschmer, visibly recoiled at the suggestion of a break with Merkel: “Not at all!”
‘Merzel’
A former federal minister, granted anonymity to speak candidly, offered a more strategic reading: For Merkel, the visit was a “win-win;” it signaled that she still cares about the party.
For Merz, regardless of personal antipathies, there was little choice but to strike a conciliatory tone.
There may also have been an electoral calculation, the former minister said. In Baden-Württemberg, where CDU state leader Manuel Hagel is seeking to beat the Greens’ Cem Özdemir in a March 8 regional election, photographs with Merkel may appeal to center-left voters more effectively than images with Merz.
In the end, the CDU cares most about being able to govern. From whom it poaches voters — and with what imagery, messaging or promises — comes second.
Online critics have coined the portmanteau “Merzel,” mocking the perceived convergence of Merz and Merkel. Inside the party, however, there is scant resistance. Roughly 91 percent of delegates reelected Merz as CDU leader in Stuttgart — a stronger endorsement than that recently secured by his Bavarian counterpart, CSU chief Markus Söder, or by Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil of the Social Democrats.
Merz leaves Stuttgart as a winner. But Merkel, too, can claim a quiet, belated victory.