Union (German politics)
Union or union parties in Germany is the name given to the two sister parties CDU and CSU as a whole. In the German Bundestag they form a common parliamentary group , the CDU / CSU parliamentary group , also known as the Union parliamentary group .
The two parties are completely separated financially and organizationally. The CSU only exists in Bavaria, the CDU in the other federal states. Nevertheless, there are joint (nationwide) organizations, such as the Junge Union .
Programmatic differences between the CDU and CSU are mainly due to the fact that the CSU is more conservative in domestic, legal and social policy and more social in economic and social policy.
What separates and what in common
CDU and CSU are two independent parties. The CDU has 17 regional associations in 15 countries ( there are three regional associations in Lower Saxony ), but no regional association in Bavaria. The CSU, on the other hand, has no regional association outside of Bavaria. The same applies to the party structures at the local level. In local and state elections , the CDU competes with the respective CDU candidate in the 15 countries, while the CSU only presents candidates in Bavaria. The Union politicians Christian Schuchardt (Würzburg) and Oliver Junk (Goslar) are or were each member of a dissenting party.
Even at the federal level, the parties as such are organizationally separated from one another: The federal CDU party only exists with reference to the 15 federal states. As a result, the CDU only submits state lists in the 15 states in Bundestag and European elections, the CSU only in Bavaria.
It looks more differentiated with the implementation of the election campaign at the federal level. The CDU and CSU always announce a joint top candidate (for the Bundestag: Chancellor candidates). Most of the time, but not always, there was also a joint election manifesto for both parties. The CSU can emphasize its independence through its own election program, especially if there are personal or programmatic differences of opinion with the CDU. The CSU is also free to invite CDU candidates to Bavarian election events or to show CDU faces on their CSU posters.
In organs at the federal or European level, the parties always appear together. In the Bundestag the CDU and CSU together form a parliamentary group, in the European Parliament together a CDU / CSU regional group. CDU and CSU negotiate coalitions together and participate in federal governments: if there are CDU ministers, there are also CSU ministers.
The Union and Franz Josef Strauss
The bond between the CDU and the CSU was by no means always firm: At the time of the CSU party chairman Franz Josef Strauss , the Kreuther decision to split the CSU came in 1976 to dissolve the joint parliamentary group in the 8th Bundestag that had existed since 1949 . The aim of the CSU was to get more speaking time in parliament .
In previous years, “CSU groups of friends” had already formed in the German states outside Bavaria . to the Action Group Fourth Party (AVP). Support for the AVP was given up again by the CSU at the insistence of the CDU. The AVP withdrew its candidacy three weeks before the 1976 federal election . After the election, Strauss threatened to found a “ fourth party ” again, motivated by a poor performance by the CDU and a result of 60% for the CSU in Bavaria . But he dropped this idea after the CDU threatened to appear in Bavaria.
In mid-1979, the election of a candidate for chancellor for the 1980 Bundestag elections became the next ordeal for the Union. Strauss made himself a candidate in May, while the CDU soon named Ernst Albrecht as a candidate. A vote on July 2, 1979 gave Strauss a narrow majority; he had once again threatened the “Fourth Party”.
The Union after 1980
The 1980 election was lost for the Union parties; many voters switched to the FDP. For Strauss this meant the end of his national political ambitions. For the opposition leader of the CDU Helmut Kohl , on the other hand, this was the chance to establish his own national politics. He brought the Union closer to the FDP and finally came in 1982, after the FDP left the coalition with the SPD, by a vote of no confidence in the office of Chancellor .
The Union parties won the following four federal elections, 1983 , 1987 , 1990 and 1994 . In the 1998 election , after sixteen years in government, the CDU, CSU and FDP went into the opposition until the 2005 general election . In 2002 the Union again supported a CSU candidate for Chancellor, the Bavarian Prime Minister Stoiber.
From 2005 to 2021 Angela Merkel (CDU) headed the respective federal governments as Federal Chancellor . From 2005 to 2009 the Union parties formed a grand coalition with the SPD , while in the 17th Bundestag they again formed a coalition with the FDP. After the 2013 federal election and the 2017 election, the Union again entered into a coalition with the SPD. Due to differences of opinion on the 2015/2016 refugee crisis , there were again discussions about a nationwide expansion of the CSU (especially in 2016 and 2018).
In the run-up to the federal election in 2021 , the CSU chairman Markus Söder tried to be nominated by the Union as a candidate for chancellor. The CDU federal leadership insisted on the CDU chairman Armin Laschet .
Joint federal election results
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| Joint federal election results | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| year | Number of votes | Share of votes | Seats | Chancellor candidate |
| 1949 | 7,359,084 | 31.0% | 139 | Konrad Adenauer |
| 1953 | 12,443,981 | 45.2% | 249 | Konrad Adenauer |
| 1957 | 15.008.339 | 50.2% | 277 | Konrad Adenauer |
| 1961 | 14.298.372 | 45.3% | 251 | Konrad Adenauer |
| 1965 | 15,524,068 | 47.6% | 251 | Ludwig Erhard |
| 1969 | 15.195.187 | 46.1% | 250 | Kurt Georg Kiesinger |
| 1972 | 16.806.020 | 44.9% | 234 | Rainer Barzel |
| 1976 | 18.394.801 | 48.6% | 254 | Helmut Kohl |
| 1980 | 16,897,659 | 44.5% | 237 | Franz Josef Strauss (CSU) |
| 1983 | 18,998,545 | 48.8% | 255 | Helmut Kohl |
| 1987 | 16,761,572 | 44.3% | 234 | Helmut Kohl |
| 1990 | 20,358,096 | 43.8% | 319 | Helmut Kohl |
| 1994 | 19,517,156 | 41.4% | 294 | Helmut Kohl |
| 1998 | 17,329,388 | 35.1% | 245 | Helmut Kohl |
| 2002 | 18,482,641 | 38.5% | 248 | Edmund Stoiber (CSU) |
| 2005 | 16,631,049 | 35.2% | 226 | Angela Merkel |
| 2009 | 14,658,515 | 33.8% | 239 | Angela Merkel |
| 2013 | 18.165.446 | 41.5% | 311 | Angela Merkel |
| 2017 | 15,317,344 | 32.9% | 246 | Angela Merkel |
| 2021 | 11,178,298 | 24.1% | 197 | Armin Laschet |
literature
- Jochen Blind: The home game of the “European parties”? The European election campaigns of the Union from 1979 to 2009 (= Research ). Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-531-19354-0 .
- Hans-Peter Schwarz (Ed.): The parliamentary group as a power factor. CDU / CSU in the German Bundestag from 1949 to the present day. Pantheon, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-570-55107-3 ( review ).
Web links
Konrad Adenauer (1949) | Heinrich von Brentano (1949–1955) | Heinrich Krone (1955–1961) | Heinrich von Brentano (1961–1964) | Rainer Barzel (1964–1973) | Karl Carstens (1973–1976) | Helmut Kohl (1976–1982) | Alfred Dregger (1982–1991) | Wolfgang Schäuble (1991-2000) | Friedrich Merz (2000–2002) | Angela Merkel (2002–2005) | Volker Kauder (2005–2018) | Ralph Brinkhaus (since 2018)
Individual evidence
- ^ Party and parliamentary group - tasks and differences
- ^ Basic program of the CDU in Germany
- ^ Basic program of the CSU in Bavaria statutes (PDF)
- ^ Results of the Bundestag elections . In: Wahlrecht.de . Retrieved September 24, 2017.
- ↑ Final result of the federal election on September 22, 2013 , wahlrecht.de. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
- ↑ 2017 Bundestag election: Final result. October 12, 2017, accessed May 2, 2021 .
- ↑ Election to the 19th German Bundestag on September 24, 2017 - Volume 3 - Final results by constituency. (pdf) October 2017, p. 9 , accessed on May 2, 2021 .