Germany: the moderate Armin Laschet takes the head of the CDU

Her victory opens her, in theory, the race to succeed the Chancellor in view of the legislative elections of September 26. “I want us to succeed together and ensure that the Union is taken to the Chancellery in September,” he reacted after his victory. Armin Laschet has come back from afar: given favorite almost a year ago at the start of the race to replace Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who resigned, his rating has melted because of his management deemed hesitant of the health crisis.

Centrist cap

Armin Laschet has been running the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous in Germany, since 2017, where he was criticized for his lack of determination in the fight against the pandemic. So much so that his running mate in the presidency of the party, the Minister of Health Jens Spahn, ended up overshadowing him, gaining in popularity in favor of the crisis. This father of three is seen as a moderate close to the Chancellor, whose centrist course he intends to maintain. “A break with Angela Merkel would be exactly the wrong signal,” he said, considering that this would notably open up an avenue for the Greens, the CDU’s main opponents for the upcoming elections.

An admiration for Charlemagne

He was one of the few to fully support it after its decision to welcome hundreds of thousands of migrants from Syria or Afghanistan in 2015. His convictions on this sensitive issue are not new. His liberal integration policy while he was regional minister in 2005 earned him the nickname “Armin the Turk” within the CDU. Ethnic diversity is not “a threat, but a challenge and an opportunity,” he said in 2009.

The former journalist also presents himself as a “passionate European”. After five years in the Bundestag, he will come into direct contact with EU politics between 1999 and 2005, as a Member of Parliament in Brussels specializing in security issues and international politics. In this regard, he says he admires Charlemagne, the “father of Europe” whose center of the Carolingian empire was located in Aachen, birthplace of Armin Laschet. A golden bust of the great man sits on his desk.

A recent biography about him ensures that the Laschet family does not rule out descending from the famous emperor, which has earned him amused comments in the media. If his unifying qualities have often been praised, he suffers from an image of a manager “indecisive, sometimes acting in a reckless manner” which casts doubt on his ability to lead the largest European economy, the daily wrote recently. Southgerman newspaper.

Low popularity

Which is reflected in its low popularity. According to the latest barometer on Friday public television ZDF, only 28% of those questioned believe that he has the build of a chancellor. When the head of the conservative Bavarian government Markus Söder, crowned with his image of resolute crisis manager, collects 54%. During the first wave of the pandemic, Armin Laschet had in particular initially rejected strict restrictive measures, before turning around by imposing the first local containment of the country following the emergence of a large outbreak of infection in a slaughterhouse.

He was also sharply criticized for claiming that East European workers employed by this company had imported the virus, before apologizing. More recently, he has had to defend himself against accusations of nepotism concerning orders by his regional government for masks and protective equipment made by a local textile company. Because his son Johannes, known as “Joe”, a fashion influencer, had advertised for this brand on his blog.