A spirit of optimism at the CDU in the southwest: new state leader
It is a change of power after a long time at the top of the CDU in Baden-Württemberg: parliamentary group leader Manuel Hagel has been elected as the new chairman at the state party conference in Reutlingen with 91.5 percent of the vote. He received 311 out of 340 valid votes. There were no opposing candidates. There were three abstentions, which the CDU counted as invalid votes.
Hagel succeeds Thomas Strobl, who held the state chairmanship for twelve years. Strobl had declared in September that he would not run for the state chairmanship again.
The 35-year-old Hagel is said to have ambitions to be the top candidate in 2026. Head of government Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) does not want to run again in the state elections. The Greens have yet to nominate a top candidate - the most promising candidate is considered to be Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir. In his speech, Hagel underlined the Christian Democrats' claim to leadership in the state: "Winfried Kretschmann's political legacy will be in good hands with us." It was the right time for the CDU to be ambitious again. The party is needed again. And: "We are invincible when we are united."
Hagel announces turnaround in migration policy
Baden-Württemberg was governed by the CDU for almost six decades. Kretschmann took over Villa Reitzenstein in 2011. After several years in opposition, Strobl managed to lead the party into government as a junior partner in both 2016 and 2021 - and avoided a loss of significance. Strobl's position in the party had been weakened for some time: at the last party conference in Mannheim in November 2021, he only received 66.5% of the vote.
At the party conference, the new state chairman Hagel called for a 180-degree turnaround in migration policy, among other things. "The migration policy we have been pursuing for years has come to an end," he said. Volunteers in the municipalities could no longer do this. It was now a matter of limiting immigration quickly and effectively. The country needs an "agenda of confidence". Hagel criticized paternalism and know-it-all attitude.
Nina Warken, a member of the Bundestag from Tauberbischofsheim, is to become the new Secretary General of the south-west CDU. The previous Secretary General, Isabell Huber, had previously announced that she would be stepping down. Warken (44), a lawyer, is the parliamentary secretary of the parliamentary group. Hagel and Warken know each other from their time together in the Junge Union.
Strobl praises unity at farewell
Before the election, Hagel's predecessor Strobl had attested to the rare unity of his state association on his retirement. He said he did not know when the CDU in Baden-Württemberg had ever stood so united and united. "We've often said that, but this time it's really true." He had enjoyed being chairman of the state association for twelve years - "mostly with pleasure".
Source: www.dpa.com
