The current head of the Chancellery, Thorsten Frei (CDU), is set to succeed Jens Spahn (CDU) as the leader of the Union’s Bundestag parliamentary group. This agreement was reached by CDU and CSU chiefs Friedrich Merz and Markus Söder, according to Union circles cited by the Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Earlier discussions had taken place within the Union’s party committees and in the Bundestag faction. After Spahn’s resignation, Merz had announced that, in coordination with the sister party, he would submit a personnel proposal “relatively soon.” Officially, the successor will take office only after being elected by the parliamentary group, which is scheduled to meet in Berlin next Wednesday for a special session. It is also reported that the announcement of Frei’s replacement will come only in the following week. It remains unclear whether, in addition to the vacancy at the Chancellery, there will be further changes in the cabinet.
Spahn stepped down over the weekend amid growing internal party pressure. He and his husband Daniel Funke had announced a few days earlier that they had become parents in the United States with the help of a gestational surrogate. This drew criticism because surrogacy is illegal in Germany, and his party has been explicit in opposing its legalization. Spahn himself had supported it in the past.
Frei is an opponent of LGBTQ rights
Thorsten Frei, who also serves as the deputy state chairman of the CDU in Baden-Württemberg, is viewed as a brake on LGBTQ rights: in 2017 he voted against the equal treatment of gay and lesbian people under marriage law—unlike Spahn. At that time, about three-quarters of Union deputies voted to maintain the ban on same-sex marriage (Queer.de reported). He also opposes protections for LGBTQ people in the Basic Law (Queer.de reported). Moreover, he described the Self-Determination Act of the current government as ideologically motivated (Queer.de reported).
