Merkel turned down CDU honorary presidential title

Merz must be elected party president at the party convention during tomorrow's CDU day.

“ish-canceptary has concluded that the party's honorary president's title is no longer in the spirit of”, said of RTL Armin Laschet, still president of the CDU. The last honorary president of the CDU, Helmut Kohl, resigned from the post following the scandal on party donations.

At the same time, the weekly Spiegel reports that Angela Merkel has refused an invitation for a dinner with Friedrich Merz, who must be elected the new party leader at the party assembly tomorrow in Berlin.

According to Spiegel, Merz invited former CDU presidents to dinner after his election as party president, who is said to be secure after the base gave him an advantage in December's internal elections.

Observers say that Merz, who is known as the party's traditional and conservative wing representative, wanted to improve traditionally bad relations with Angela Merkel and the party's liberal arm. The invitation for dinner was also rejected by Annegret Kramp-Carrenbauer, who took over CDU from Angela Merkel in 2018.

Both Merkel and Carrenbauer justified the rejection of the invitation by “in other terms”. The invitation for dinner was accepted by former party president Wolfgang Schauble and current President Armin Laschet.