THE NEW CDU GENERAL STANDS FOR PLAIN LANGUAGE AND FRESH IDEAS Linnemann's mission: save Merz1

The CDU under fire!

Party leader Friedrich Merz (67) pulls the emergency brake. He replaces his main strategist, General Secretary Mario Czaja (47) . Carsten Linnemann (45) will be his successor. From 2013 to 2021 he was head of the powerful Mittelstands-Union!

Linnemann of all people, the Paderborner – known almost only to political insiders until a few weeks ago. But then he spoke up with popular suggestions that would have become a general secretary or a party leader:

► According to Linnemann, overtime should be paid tax-free in the future, and thus motivate overtime when there is a shortage of skilled workers. ► Pensioners should be allowed to earn extra tax-free! ► In May he called for an obligation to work for recipients of support: anyone who receives money from the state should also work.

In contrast to the pale-looking Czaja, Linnemann is seen as a man with clear edges and open words. He does not shy away from the argument, according to party headquarters.

Thorsten Frei (49, CDU, parliamentary director of the Union faction) on BILD: “Carsten Linnemann is the type of striker! An attacker we need now. With his economic expertise in particular, we can grab the government exactly where it matters now.”

Again and again, Linnemann drew attention to himself in the media - mostly with controversial topics:

► In October 2022, he called for a “ welfare state brake ” that caps social spending at 30 percent of economic power. ► As early as 2019, he called for compulsory pre-school : "A child who hardly speaks and understands German has no place in a primary school."

With success: in 2021 he made the leap to the CDU federal executive board and also became head of the CDU Principles Commission, which is to develop a new party program.

Merz is under massive pressure

Now the rocket ascent: Linnemann is the man for the big lines and tough words. The reason for the change of general secretary: Merz is under massive pressure, has to bring calm to the party before the summer – and get himself out of the criticism.

For weeks there have been talks in the CDU leadership about a restructuring, it is now said from the party leadership. But BILD knows: even those close to Merz only found out about the castling minutes before the media!

Possible reason for the Holterdiepolter change: Czaja's failure to expel Union right winger Hans-Georg Maaßen (60) . Despite massive warnings, Czaja had pushed for the expulsion of the former head of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, but failed with a crash before the CDU party court in Erfurt on Tuesday.

► "Merz was tired of having to do Czaja's job as well," reveals a confidant of the party leader to BILD. Czaja was "not penetrated by the media", the general did not fulfill his function as a "bullet trap" for the party leader: "Every shot got through and hit the boss!"

For Merz, it is also about the chancellor candidacy

The "gentle general" experiment failed. Bookseller's son Linnemann must now turn things around for Merz. Because for him it is also about the question of the next chancellor candidacy.

︎ Most recently, Merz had lost control of the process: NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (47, CDU) had recently brought himself into play : At the same time, Wüst had himself in a FAZ guest article and in an interview with the "Rheinische Post". Positioned and presented programmatically. The Merz squad seemed helpless and duped. Czaja was no help to him, had no clue about the advance and then couldn't put out the fire.

︎ Czaja didn't find a line when dealing with the Greens and AfD either. Merz's clumsy announcement on June 27 that the Greens would be tougher in view of the AfD high is blamed on Czaja and the communications center in the Adenauer building. Strategic communication does not take place, the CDU reacts to results too late and haphazardly, does not penetrate the media with its own topics.

Abi, bookstore and Junge Union

Now all this is the task of new General Linnemann. After high school and military service, he learned how to keep a shop running in his parents' bookshop. At that time he joined the Junge Union, and from 1997 to 2001 he was its local head in his home town of Egge. Then he went to study business administration at Paderborn University of Applied Sciences. Linnemann received his doctorate in economics from Chemnitz University of Technology in 2006. This was followed by the "Deutsche Bank Research" as a station, he was, among other things, assistant to the chief economist at Deutsche Bank, Norbert Walter.

Linnemann, a man with a demure, sometimes smug sense of humor, has been a member of the Bundestag since 2009. Since 2018 he has been Vice-President of the second division football club SC Paderborn 07. And now Linnemann is also in the Bundesliga.

A mammoth task awaits the single party general: the defensive battle to the right against the AfD – and the demarcation to the left from the ruling traffic light!

So far, the CDU has not been able to benefit from the weakness of the traffic light government and has even lost approval for the first time in the last two weeks. The Union is currently 5.5 percentage points ahead of the AfD (20.5 percent) with 26 percent.

Linnemann's task: intercept traffic light disappointments BEFORE the AfD!