German conservatives elect Merkel-confidante as new party leader

Germany’s conservatives elected Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a close confidante of Chancellor Angela Merkel, as party leader, opting for continuity in German politics at a crucial time for energy and climate policy. However, CDU general secretary Kramp-Karrenbauer only won a razor-thin majority over Friedrich Merz, a vocal critic of Merkel and a favourite of traditional conservatives. Merkel stressed at the party convention she would continue as Chancellor. However, Kramp-Karrenbauer has long been seen as her favourite to follow her as German leader. The head of the CDU has traditionally been the top pick for the chancellorship.

“We need the courage to get out of our comfort zone,” Kramp-Karrenbauer told the nearly 1,000 delegates at the party’s convention in Hamburg in her application speech. “We must change from ‘could have, should have’ to a ‘we will do it’", she said. She got loud cheers and some standing ovation, wooing delegates with an emotional and personal speech that also featured her experience as former premier of the state of Saarland as well as her role as mother of three children.

Merkel had announced to step down as party leader after 18 years following severe losses of her conservative CDU/CSU alliance in recent regional elections, when conservative voters left in droves to both the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Greens. The defeats also raised doubts whether her current coalition in Berlin with the Social Democrats (SPD) – also in disarray after severe losses – can muster the strength to drive the country’s energy transition, pass a climate protection law and get a coal exit underway once the coal commission has published its final proposals.

The election of Kramp-Karrenbauer – who in Germany is often referred to as “AKK” - means continuity for Germany’s energy policy, according to energy and economy minister Peter Altmaier (CDU). “I assume that in the coming days and weeks we will honour some of the commitments we made in the coalition agreement, starting with the additional expansion of renewable energies and extending to the question of the extent to which we will implement the results of the Structural Change Commission once it has presented them,” Altmaier told Clean Energy Wire on the sidelines of the convention, referring to the commission also charged with defining a path to phase-out coal-fired power generation. “We want to implement them in such a way that we create jobs and at the same time continue with the transformation,” said Altmaier, who like Kramp-Karrenbauer hails from the small Western state of Saarland.

His parliamentary state secretary echoed his view: "Angela Merkel has made it clear that she will remain chancellor,” Thomas Bareiß told Clean Energy Wire. “That was a good and important signal. One of the reasons why AKK has been supported by many delegates is that she is very close with Angela Merkel, the two co-ordinate closely. The CDU part of the government will speak with one voice.”

Asked by a delegate how she would win back voters from the Greens, Kramp-Karrenbauer promised to reconcile environmental and economic policy. "It's about how we deal with the preservation of creation, in all its forms, environmental protection and preservation of creation on the one hand, and at the same time to consider economic aspects.”

Political analyst Arne Jungjohann said Kramp-Karrenbauer as party leader increases the chances that the CDU will adjust its course on the climate crisis and ecology. “Her election strengthens those forces within the party who want the CDU to compete with the Greens for voters who consider environmental issues as a priority. But to deliver, the CDU would have to demonstrate this was a serious effort, and not just a tactical manoeuvre,” he told Clean Energy Wire.

“Looking at the tight result and the broad support Friedrich Merz received, this is far from clear,” Jungjohann cautioned. “The conservative and industrial wing within the CDU remains strong and 2019 state elections in Eastern Germany make it less likely that the party will quickly turn green.”

All speakers pledged to work hard to win back voters from the far-right AfD as well as the Green party. Many free-market proponents within the conservative party had publicly endorsed the 63-year-old Merz, who remains best known to many Germans for his tax reform plan with a scheme so simple “it would fit on a beermat”.

Jens Koeppen, member of the economy and energy committee of the Bundestag, told Clean Energy Wire he would have preferred economy expert Merz. “I expect from Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer that the energy policy will get more market-economical features, otherwise the Energiewende will fail,” he said.

In her final speech as party leader, Merkel listed climate change as one of the “great challenges” where she sees her Christian Democrats in the position to show what they "are made of" in the future. If it could not be contained, it “will change the face of our planet,” she said.

Energy minister Altmaier said he was “convinced” that Kramp-Karrenbauer will ultimately match Merkel’s stature on international climate policy. “She will certainly do so by approaching the relevant opinion leaders, NGOs and so on. She will have a dialogue with them - which will certainly sometimes be difficult and controversial - always with the aim of making a decision that will take us further in the matter. This means, then, that it will also help in the ecological transformation process to ensure that we achieve our climate targets without jeopardising our competitiveness,“ Altmaier told Clean Energy Wire.

Merkel had earned herself the nickname “Climate Chancellor” during her first term in office between 2005 and 2009, when she put the topic firmly on the international agenda. However, many observers have questioned her commitment in recent years after her government failed to make significant progress on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and postponed the country’s 2020 reduction target and dampened ambitions on a European level.

Media observers have said one of her more controversial yet lasting legacies will remain the decision to reverse a plan to extend the running times of nuclear power stations and actually accelerate the phase-out after the Fukushima disaster in 2011. This decision also irked many in her party.