The SPD quickly gained popularity and succeeded in forming a social-liberal coalition with the FDP following the 1969 federal election, forcing the CDU out of power for the first time in their history.

After taking office, Angela Merkel invited her former patron to the Chancellor's Office and Ronald Pofalla, the Secretary-General of the CDU, announced that the CDU will cooperate more closely with Kohl, " to take advantage of the experience of this great statesman ", as Pofalla put it.

As of 2008, the CDU announced ambitions to return the name to its original spelling.

The CDU and the LDPD announced that they were leaving the so-called democratic bloc.

In 2005, the ruling grand coalition of CDU and SPD announced plans to punish customers of forced prostitutes, if the customer could reasonably have been aware of the situation.

In June 2011, the Senate of Hamburg, following CDU losses in state elections around the country, also announced its intention to introduce a same-sex marriage bill in the Bundesrat, the federal representation of the German states.

There had been rumours that Helmut Kohl would resign and allow Wolfgang Schäuble to take the reins of the CDU but these rumours were obsolete when Kohl announced in April 1997 that he would seek the chancellorship for a sixth term.

In October 2004 the Minister President of Baden-Württemberg Erwin Teufel announced that he was to step down as Minister President and Chairman of the Baden-Württemberg CDU, effective 19 April 2005.

In October 2009, the Greens announced that they would support a government led by the CDU, in coalition with the FDP, in Saarland, forming Germany's first, highly experimental, ' Jamaica coalition '.

For example, Helmut Kohl's CDU governed for years in coalition with the Free Democratic Party ( FDP ), from 1998 to 2005 Gerhard Schröder's SPD was in power with the Greens and from 2009 Angela Merkel, CDU / CSU was in power with the FDP.

This was the situation in Germany in 2005 when Angela Merkel became Chancellor: in early elections, the CDU / CSU did not garner enough votes to form a majority coalition with the FDP ; similarly the SPD and Greens did not have enough votes to continue on with their formerly ruling coalition.

In 2002, Stoiber politically outmaneuvered CDU chairwoman, Angela Merkel, and was elected the CDU / CSU's candidate for the office of chancellor, challenging Gerhard Schröder.

He enjoys considerably more support in his home state of Bavaria than in the rest of Germany, where CDU chairwoman Angela Merkel is more popular.

He was accused by many in the CDU / CSU of offering " half-hearted " support to Angela Merkel, with some even accusing him of being reluctant to support a female candidate from the East.

As a result of this CDU crisis, Angela Merkel became chair.

In October 2010, Angela Merkel told a meeting of younger members of her conservative Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ) party at Potsdam, near Berlin, that attempts to build a multicultural society in Germany had " utterly failed ", stating: " The concept that we are now living side by side and are happy about it does not work "., She continued to say that immigrants should integrate and adopt Germany's culture and values.

Helmut Kohl served as chairman until the party's electoral defeat in 1998, when he was succeeded by Wolfgang Schäuble ; Schäuble resigned in early 2000 as a result of a party financing scandal and was replaced by Angela Merkel, who remains the leader of the CDU to this day.

Small town and rural support comes especially from the traditionally Protestant areas of northern Germany and Brandenburg ( with notable exceptions such as Western Pomerania where CDU leader Angela Merkel was re-elected in 2005 ) and a number of university towns.

Instead, Wulff declared his support for Angela Merkel, the CDU leader in the Bundestag.

Wulff's candidacy for President of Germany in the 2010 presidential election was formally confirmed by Angela Merkel, Guido Westerwelle and Horst Seehofer, the heads of the CDU, FDP and CSU parties, during the evening of 2010.

After being voted out of office, he became the SPD's " Representative for Pop Culture and Pop Discourse " from 2003 to 2005, for which he was bestowed the nickname Siggi Pop .< ref name =" zeitde2010-02 "> Wir sind nicht aus Versehen Opposition ?, Die Zeit, 02 / 07 / 2010 ; > 2003 wurde Gabriel SPD-Beauftragter für " Popkultur und Popdiskurs " – was ihm den Spitznamen " Siggi Pop " eintrug <</ ref > From 2005 to 2009 he was the Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the first cabinet of Angela Merkel ( CDU ).

The " Bild am Sonntag " newspaper reported on December 19 that CDU boss Angela Merkel had stripped her General Secretary of his powers.

In spite of support from the Premiers of Bavaria ( Edmund Stoiber ( CSU )) and Hesse ( Roland Koch ( CDU )), Schäuble did not receive the party ’ s nomination in the end because CDU leader Angela Merkel, other CDU politicians and the liberal FDP party spoke out against him.

After the 2005 Bundestag election, SPD and CDU formed a grand coalition under the leadership of new Chancellor Angela Merkel ( CDU ).

" Chancellor Angela Merkel nominated Baden-Wuerttemberg ( BW ) Minister President Guenther Oettinger as EU Energy Commissioner primarily to remove an unloved lame duck from an important CDU bastion.

** 1991-1994: Angela Merkel ( CDU )

Merkel and Bundestag President Norbert Lammert have been keen to clarify that CDU references to the " dominant culture " imply " tolerance and living together ".

Kenny and Merkel have close political ties because Merkel's CDU party and Fine Gael are both members of the centre-right European People's Party ( EPP ) and seating at EPP meetings is arranged by alphabetical order of surname.

After the mergers, Ms. Merkel was elected in the post-unification election as a member of parliament for the CDU, and eventually became Chancellor of Germany in 2005.

Wolfgang Schäuble ( born 18 September 1942 ) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ), currently serving as the Federal Minister of Finance in the Second Cabinet Merkel.

It operates only in the state of Bavaria, while its larger sister party, the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ), operates in the other 15 states of Germany.

In Germany, for instance, coalition government is the norm, as it is rare for either the Christian-Democratic Union of Germany and Christian Social Union in Bavaria ( CDU / CSU ) or the Social Democratic Party of Germany ( SPD ) to win an unqualified majority in a national election.

However, the group saw its membership fall sharply in the late 1980s, as many centre-right members moved to the rival European People's Party group, dominated by the German CDU and the ideology of Christian democracy in general.

It is believed that this was partly due to tactical voting by CDU and Christian Social Union of Bavaria ( CSU ) alliance supporters who hoped for stronger market-oriented economic reforms than the CDU / CSU alliance called for.

There is a multi-party system that, since 1949, has been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany ( SPD ).

The Christian Democrats lost votes compared to 2002, reaching only 35. 2 %, and failed to get a majority for a " black-yellow " government of CDU / CSU and liberal FDP.

The most likely outcome of coalition talks was a so-called " grand coalition " between the Christian Democrats ( CDU / CSU ) and the Social Democrats ( SPD ).

In early 2005, the Greens were the target of the German Visa Affair 2005, instigated in the media by the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ).

In April 2008, following the 2008 Hamburg state election, the Green-Alternative List ( GAL ) in Hamburg entered into a coalition with the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ), the first such state-level coalition in Germany.

He was the first chancellor ( top official ) of the FRG, 1949 – 63, and until his death was the founder and leader of the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ), a coalition of conservatives, ordoliberals, and adherents of Protestant and Catholic social teaching that dominated West Germany politics for most of its history.

In 1987, Rau tried to become chancellor of Germany for the SPD, but his refusal to contemplate forming a coalition with the Green Party meant he could not win the elections against Helmut Kohl ’ s Christian Democrats ( CDU ).

He was the first leader of the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ), a coalition of Catholics and Protestants that under his leadership became and has since remained the most dominant in Germany.

After his dismissal as Mayor of Cologne, Adenauer devoted himself to building a new political party, the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ), which he hoped would embrace both Protestants and Roman Catholics in a single party.

Theodor Heuss was elected the first President of the Republic, and Adenauer was elected Chancellor ( head of government ) on 16 September 1949 with the support of his own CDU, the Christian Social Union and the liberal Free Democratic Party.

His favorite holiday place to do this was in Cadenabbia, Italy, in a rented villa overlooking Lake Como, which has since been acquired as a conference centre by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the political foundation established by Adenauers political party Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ).

Kurt Georg Kiesinger (; 6 April 1904 – 9 March 1988 ) was a German politician affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ).

By the time the first national elections were held in the Federal Republic in 1949, Kiesinger had joined the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ) and won a seat in the Bundestag, the West German parliament.

A split from the PPI, the United Christian Democrats ( CDU ), joined Forza Italia and the CCD in the centre-right Pole of Freedoms coalition ( later becoming the Pole for Freedoms ), while the PPI was a founding member of The Olive Tree centre-left coalition in 1996.

He was Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 ( of West Germany between 1982 and 1990 and of the reunited Germany between 1990 and 1998 ) and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ) from 1973 to 1998.

The Labour Party ( PvdA ) was founded on 9 February 1946, through a merger of three parties: the Social Democratic Workers ' Party ( SDAP ), the minor left-liberal Free-thinking Democratic League ( VDB ) and the small social-Protestant Christian Democratic Union ( CDU ).

Brandt was the SPD candidate for the Chancellorship in 1961, but he lost to Konrad Adenauer's conservative Christian Democratic Union of Germany ( CDU ).

The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (, CDU ; ) is a Christian democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Germany.