Overview
- Merkel’s office and a CDU spokesperson confirmed she will attend the first day of the congress and stay through the vote for party chair.
- It will be her first in-person participation at a CDU federal party conference since 2019, after declining 2022 and 2024 invitations under a self-imposed post-office principle her office called an exception to the rule.
- The CDU congress is scheduled for February 20–21 in Stuttgart, with Friedrich Merz slated for re-election as party chair on the opening day.
- Merkel’s relationship with Merz is widely described as strained, she has publicly criticized him in recent years, and it remains unclear whether she will address delegates.
- Analysts view her presence as a possible political signal in a fraught election year, and all living former CDU chairs will attend, including Armin Laschet as a delegate and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer also representing the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.