Stefan Evers to become the CDU's top candidate in Berlin

As successor at the top of the state list, the current Finance and Culture Senator Stefan Evers is slated. This follows from the Tagesspiegel's research, according to which the influential district chairs of the Berlin CDU agreed on Evers as a replacement for Wegner in a crisis meeting on Friday evening. The state executive of the Berlin CDU will officially nominate the 46-year-old on Monday afternoon.

The designated top candidate is so far little known to many Berliners. Evers has been Secretary General of the Berlin CDU since 2016 and has been a member of the House of Representatives for 15 years. He joined the Senate as Finance Senator; since April this year, following the resignation of the non-partisan Sarah Wedl-Wilson, he has also been responsible for the cultural portfolio.

Difficult starting position: CDU at only 17 percent

After Wegner's withdrawal, Stefan Evers is to lead the Berlin CDU out of the crisis – a party facing a pivotal election. In the latest Infratest dimap poll, the CDU only reaches 17 percent and thus ranks fourth, behind the Left, the Greens and the AfD. According to the poll, the Left has a good chance of providing the next Governing Mayor.

Evers already distinguished himself during the CDU's 2023 campaign, which secured Wegner his entry into the Rotes Rathaus. At the time, Evers, as the state party's campaign manager, played a decisive role in the election victory. Previously, he had been deputy parliamentary group leader and later managing director of the CDU faction in the House of Representatives; before entering state politics, he worked as a research assistant to the Bundestag members Friedhelm Ost and Werner Kuhn.

Programmatic focal points: Saving, Building, Cleanliness

In terms of policy, Evers is economically conservative. The Finance and Culture Senator is taking over a party in which finances play a central role. Wir können auf Dauer nicht mehr Geld ausgeben, als wir erwirtschaften, he said. He sees additional savings potential in costly requirements in building and data protection law and criticizes the debate over the socialization of housing in Berlin as the cause of „riesigen Schaden".

Instead of paying out compensation for expropriations, Evers says he would rather invest money in housing construction. On the issue of social benefits as well, he outlines a clear course of austerity: Die Stadt könne es sich nicht mehr leisten, kostenlose Schulessen für Kinder einkommensstarker Eltern zu finanzieren. Wer das nicht wolle, müsse CDU wählen, he said.

Confrontation course against The Left

In the campaign, Evers relies on a sharp demarcation from the Left party. Diese wolle mit ihrer Enteignungspolitik die Soziale Marktwirtschaft zerstören, habe ein Antisemitismusproblem und wolle die Polizei schwächen, he said. In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he announced that he would „alles tun, eine links-grüne Regierung in Berlin zu verhindern". The issue of cleanliness also plays a role in his appearances: he called the increasing littering of the capital „inakzeptabel" and suggested that recipients of state benefits could help „Berlin sauber zu halten".

Biographically, Evers was born in Paderborn and has lived in Berlin since 1999. Before his political career, he was managing director of a strategy and communications consultancy. His motto, which he carries on his homepage, is „Einfach machen!". The 46-year-old is openly gay.

With a view to the campaign, it will stand Evers in good stead that he is regarded in the party as an organizer and strategist. The personnel debate surrounding Wegner had paralyzed the Berlin CDU for weeks; with the change at the top of the state list, the party is linking the hope for a fresh start. Whether this succeeds will be decided on 20 September.

The starting position is difficult, however: in an Infratest dimap poll, the CDU stands at only 17 percent, with the Left leading the field. Should The Left become the strongest force, it would have a good chance of providing the next Governing Mayor together with the Greens or the SPD. The CDU is currently courting primarily middle-class voters who want to prevent a change of government in Berlin.