'CSU hoards posts': row in conservative bloc over Steinmeier successor
A CDU leadership member sharply criticised the CSU push for Ilse Aigner as German president. A decision on the bloc's candidate is not expected before November.
Archive image · Photo: Michael Lucan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de (cropped and resized)
A dispute between Germany's CDU and its Bavarian sister party CSU over who should succeed President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has intensified. A member of the CDU's federal executive told Der Tagesspiegel: 'When it comes to hoarding posts, the CSU is in a league of its own.' The CSU has been promoting Bavarian state parliament speaker Ilse Aigner since April; party leader Markus Söder told the CSU congress that it 'would be a great thing'.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz did not mention Aigner in his speech to the CSU on Saturday. Other names in circulation, according to the paper, include Julia Klöckner, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Karin Prien and Constitutional Court President Stephan Harbarth. Parts of the SPD and the Greens have signalled support for Aigner.
The Federal Convention will vote on Jan. 30, 2027. With Merz travelling in Asia from Monday, no decision is expected in October; both parties point to November.