“If the CDU were willing to support me, I would be ready,” Söder said at a crunch meeting of conservative MPs, a source told AFP. Long-time Merkel ally Laschet, 60, took over as CDU leader in January, and would normally be first choice to lead the CDU and its Bavarian affiliate CSU into the elections on September 26. Söder spent months avoiding any clear show of interest in the top job — while doing little to dispel talk that he wants the chancellorship for himself. “We have a great interest in the whole thing moving ahead quickly now,” CDU parliamentary leader Ralph Brinkhaus said before the talks began. “A CDU/CSU candidate without the support of Angela Merkel will not be successful,” he told Bild last weekend.

Source: The Local April 11, 2021 13:41 UTC