Jens Spahn, the head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, has announced his resignation, as pressure built over his decision to have a child through a surrogate mother in the United States.
In a letter to members of the Union group, he said that he had already informed German Chancellor and CDU leader Friedrich Merz and CSU leader Markus Söder of his decision.
“I have informed the party leaders of the CDU and CSU, Friedrich Merz and Markus Söder, that with this letter to our group I am stepping down from my post as chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag,” Spahn wrote.
Spahn thanked Merz and Söder for “the trust placed in me,” but he said his “personal happiness, starting a family with my husband and becoming a father, is not compatible with my political office.”
Spahn went on: “The balancing act between my private decision to have a child via surrogacy and the understandable expectation of me as leader of our group has become greater than I had anticipated.”
Spahn described heading the Union group as a “great honour” and thanked his deputy Alexander Hoffmann and the entire leadership of the parliamentary group for their “always trusting and friendly cooperation.”
He also made a point of mentioning SPD group leader Matthias Miersch, saying working with him had been “a stabilising anchor for the coalition”.
Following Spahn’s resignation, Merz described the move as “the right one” and “unavoidable.”
“Credibility is the highest asset in politics,” the chancellor said in a statement released on Saturday.
Merz urged Spahn to resign
Shortly before the announcement, Merz had reportedly called on Spahn to step down.
According to information obtained by the Bild newspaper, Merz is said to have consulted with several CDU state party leaders on Spahn’s political future on Saturday morning.
According to the report, opinion within the party had largely turned against him.
The CDU city branch in Brilon, the hometown of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, had previously called on the head of the Union group to resign in an open letter.
“In the interests of our party’s credibility as well as the trust of our members and voters, we call on Jens Spahn to draw the political consequences and resign from his post as chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag,” the letter said. Merz was born in Brilon in the Sauerland region and went to school there.
The local party argued that Spahn’s decision to use surrogacy abroad was at odds with German law and the CDU’s long-standing opposition to surrogacy.
“Anyone who, as one of our party’s highest representatives, deliberately makes use of options abroad that contradict the value judgements of German law sends a disastrous signal,” it said.
It added that the controversy was making local politicians’ work more difficult, undermining the party’s credibility.
CDU politician Wolfgang Bosbach had also suggested that Spahn should step down: “I hope Jens Spahn spares the Union, and the CDU in particular, a months-long debate over the question of whether he is still the right person to lead the group,” Bosbach told Deutschlandfunk radio.
Spahn said in an interview with Bild on Friday that he would speak “in September” with the CDU/CSU parliamentary group about his political future.
The first regular meeting of the parliamentary group after the summer recess is scheduled for 8 September – two days after the key state election in Saxony-Anhalt.
The controversy has also drawn criticism from church leaders.
The regional bishop of the Protestant Church in Württemberg, Ernst-Wilhelm Gohl, pointed to German law.
“When, of all people, a politician now goes public about having made use of surrogacy abroad, it is also a matter of double standards and credibility,” Gohl said.
Accusations of double standards
Catholic bishop Stefan Oster of Passau also voiced his concern.
If “a prominent CDU politician in the matter of surrogacy consciously violates, to fulfil his own wishes, the laws of the country and the fundamental positions of his own party in an issue so important to our view of humanity – and then actively and positively advocates surrogacy, I consider that a real scandal,” Oster said.
The debate began after Spahn and his husband Daniel Funke on Wednesday announced that they had become parents through a surrogate mother in the United States.
It has caused controversy in Germany as surrogacy is banned and the CDU has continued to oppose legalisation – a position Spahn himself has defended in the past.
Critics argue that Spahn privately benefitted from using a surrogacy option abroad while supporting options that prevented people in Germany from doing the same.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz wants to finalise the succession before the parliamentary summer recess begins, according to Der Spiegel. “The process and timetable will now be coordinated with the party and parliamentary group bodies,” Merz said.
According to the report, Spahn had recently lost significant support among party members. “The view within the party was clear,” an insider said. Possible successors being discussed include Chancellery Minister Thorsten Frei, deputy parliamentary group leader Günter Krings, and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt.
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