Union elects Thorsten Frei as new faction leader and carries out extensive personnel change

Eight personnel changes following Spahn's resignation

According to government circles, the personnel reshuffle comprises a total of eight changes in government, party and faction within a week and a half, four of which are being formally executed on Wednesday. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will present the appointment decrees for the new ministers and the dismissal decrees for the outgoing officeholders at 12:00 noon. Subsequently, Steffen Bilger will take over the Transport portfolio, Carsten Linnemann the Health portfolio, and Nina Warken the leadership of the Chancellery.

The vote is a secret ballot. In the past, Union faction chairmen typically received more than 90 percent of the votes in their first election, provided there was no contest. 25 September 2018, when the then faction chairman Volker Kauder surprisingly lost to Ralph Brinkhaus, still lingers in the Union's memory as a trauma — by their own account — because Kauder was perceived as a tool of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Difficult search for a successor to Schnieder

The trigger for the entire personnel carousel was the resignation of Jens Spahn as chairman of the Union faction. The background was public criticism from his own ranks as well as a corresponding request from the Chancellor. Additionally, Spahn had publicly disclosed in mid-July that he and his husband Daniel Funke had had a child via a surrogate mother in the United States, thereby circumventing a ban in force in Germany and a CDU party conference resolution. CDU social policy politician Radtke explained on Deutschlandfunk that it was the freedom and right of a Chancellor to set up and rearrange his team as he saw fit.

Merz had already initiated the personnel change in the Transport Ministry on Thursday of the previous week, when he informed Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder (CDU) of the intended dismissal. Schnieder, who hails from the Eifel region, declared on Sunday himself that he was requesting his dismissal in order to end the untenable situation. In a statement, he said: "Mit diesem Schritt ziehe ich die Konsequenzen aus den Entwicklungen der vergangenen Tage und will zugleich den unwürdigen Zustand beenden, der die notwendige sachliche Arbeit unmöglich macht." The official announcement of the dismissal was delayed by three days, however, because Merz's preferred candidate Fritz Güntzler (CDU) initially agreed, but then cancelled overnight and raised concerns about his suitability.

Three new ministers in the Chancellery, Transport and Health portfolios

On Wednesday, Schnieder will then personally receive his dismissal decree from Federal President Steinmeier. Subsequently, he will hand over official business to his designated successor Steffen Bilger, according to the ARD capital studio, who was previously Parliamentary Managing Director of the Union faction and most recently served as Parliamentary State Secretary in the Transport Ministry. Bilger had stated that Frei knew what mattered in representing the faction strongly while also putting the cohesion of the coalition at the center.

In the Health Ministry, Carsten Linnemann succeeds Nina Warken. The 48-year-old economist served as CDU General Secretary until recently and is regarded as one of the party's most distinguished modernizers. Merz described him as "einen Minister, der standfest und reformwillig zugleich ist, auch im Gegenwind". With the change, the CDU simultaneously loses one of its most important organizers in the party apparatus, as Linnemann had driven forward the party's structural and membership reform in recent years.

The previous Health Minister Nina Warken is moving to the top of the Federal Chancellery as the first woman to do so, thereby succeeding Thorsten Frei. The 47-year-old is regarded within the party leadership as one of the Chancellor's closest confidants. Merz called her "eine der wichtigsten, wenn nicht die wichtigste Stütze". On the day of the appointment, Warken will first be dismissed as Health Minister and then sworn in as Chancellery Chief. At the same time, the previous Parliamentary State Secretary Tino Sorge must vacate his post, which he publicly criticized on Monday.

Warken becomes the first female Chancellery Chief

The reshuffle also includes a change in three Parliamentary State Secretary posts. Christiane Schenderlein, previously Minister of State for Sport and Volunteer Service in the Chancellery, becomes Parliamentary State Secretary in the Health Ministry. Gitta Connemann, previously Parliamentary State Secretary in the Economics Ministry, moves to the same position in the Digital Ministry and simultaneously remains the federal government's SME representative. The 39-year-old Johannes Steiniger, former CDU General Secretary in Rhineland-Palatinate, succeeds Connemann as Parliamentary State Secretary in the Economics and Energy Ministry. Philipp Amthor becomes Minister of State in the Chancellery for Federal-State Relations.

The Bremen CDU state chairman Heiko Strohmann had criticized the Chancellor in sharp words at a party committee meeting on Monday. Strohmann said according to the Tagesspiegel: "Ich will nicht sagen, dass wir eine katastrophale Stimmung haben. Aber es geht schon in diese Richtung. Viele Mitglieder sind unzufrieden mit dem Kanzler." At the same meeting, Strohmann had also admonished Merz: "Sie leiten hier keine Firma, sondern eine Partei." Strohmann was thereby also supporting his Saxon party colleague Armin Schuster, who had criticized the insufficient consideration of eastern Germany in the cabinet.

Internal criticism from Bremen and the CDA

Radke, the federal chairman of the CDA, attributed the sharp internal criticism on Deutschlandfunk to the handling of people and sensitivities in politics. Part of a leadership task was precisely to factor in such sensibilities and deal with them. He demanded a better communication style from the CDU chairman. Strohmann reaffirmed that many members were dissatisfied with the Chancellor, but he did not want to speak of a catastrophic mood. The Rhineland-Palatinate CDU state association, to which Schnieder belongs and whose Minister-President is Gordon's brother, had also pursued an openly confrontational course towards Merz.

At the center of the dissatisfaction, according to assessments from the faction, is the regional proportionality in filling offices, particularly from the CDU state associations in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse and eastern Germany. The CSU state group leader Alexander Hoffmann announced that the faction would in future act self-confidently towards the cabinet, the government and the Federal Chancellor. "Die Fraktion hat den Anspruch eine selbstbewusste Fraktion zu sein, auch gegenüber dem Kabinett, der Bundesregierung und auch gegenüber dem Bundeskanzler," said Hoffmann. The dual role of Merz as Chancellor and party chairman does not make the situation easier.

Coalition partner and faction react cautiously optimistic

SPD faction leader Matthias Miersch expressed confidence that the discord with the coalition partner would now subside. He assumed that as of today, calm would truly return and that they could return to the important work, said Miersch. Both coalition factions of the Union and the SPD claimed for themselves to be putting cohesion at the center. Merz himself had already stated on Tuesday in Dublin: "Ich gehe fest davon aus, dass nach der Fraktionssitzung am morgigen Tag dann auch alle Entscheidungen nicht nur getroffen sind, sondern auch akzeptiert" werden.

Legally, however, the procedure of the swearing-in outside a plenary session is contested, though the federal government considers it lawful according to its own statements. Since the 630 members of the Bundestag are in the summer recess, the swearing-in is to be made up in the first sitting week after the recess, presumably on 9 September. Three positions are still unfilled at the time of reporting: a Minister of State for Sport in the Chancellery, the Parliamentary Managing Director of the faction, and a new CDU treasurer. On Monday, the former CDU treasurer Franziska Hoppermann had already been elected as the new General Secretary of the party.

Open personnel questions and Bundestag summer recess

After the faction meeting, Chancellor Merz intends to depart on vacation according to government circles. The reshuffle is not yet fully concluded, it was further stated. On ZDF, Merz had hinted the day before that the reshuffle could also be used to reconsider the alignment of the federal government as a whole: "Es könnte eine Gelegenheit sein, noch einmal über die Aufstellung der Bundesregierung nachzudenken." It is now being eagerly awaited whether and how the Union can also send a signal of unity at the faction meeting.

The ARD capital studio and the ZDF capital studio had jointly reported on the proceedings.