Laschet unveils political team as Germany election draws near

Berlin, Sep 3 (EFE).- The conservative candidate to the German chancellorship Armin Laschet (CDU) presented Friday the political team that will back his campaign in the three weeks before Germans elect the successor of Angela Merkel.

The team of eight people, Laschet said, represents the “new and original” ideas the conservative party wants to put forward after the September 26 election, if they overcome Social Democrat Olaf Schulz (SPD), who is currently leading the polls.

Laschet said his team is composed of experts in their fields, in contrast to “simple ideological experiments,” in reference to a potential coalition between the SPD, The Greens, and The Left.

The team is headed by personalities like Friedrich Merz, who lost the party primaries to Laschet and will be in charge of his financial policy, or the Saxony state’s Minister of Culture Barbara Klepsch, charged with conceiving solutions to ease the east-west divide, as well as the urban-rural gap.

Laschet’s team also includes Andreas Jung for environmental and energy matters, Dorothee Bär for digitalization, Peter Neumann for home and foreign affairs, Karin Prien to foster equal opportunities and social mobility, Silvia Breher for family matters, and Joe Chialo to manage cultural policy.

“I am happy to face the final stretch, and in the coming days I would like to see who the SPD has to offer, who will make up their team if they are given the vote,” he said. EFE

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