At the head of the CDU Germany since April 10, 2000, is the Party President, Dr. Angela Merkel.  She is supported by the Secretary General Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who leads the business of the party in union with the Party President.  The leadership and coordination of the five departments within the party headquarters are the responsibility of the highest employee of the party, the General Manager of the Federal Party, Dr. Klaus Schüler.

At least every two years, a federal party conference is held.  It consists of 1,001 delegates from the local, regional, and state associations, as well as delegates from foreign associations.  The federal party conference comes to a decision as what the basic party principles party platforms will be, the party platform and statute.  Furthermore, it elects the Federal President, the Secretary-General, four acting presidents, the Federal Treasurer, and seven additional members.

The federal management committee meets on a regular basis, at least every two months.  Its responsibility is the leadership of the federal party.  It is an extensive organ for the decisions made by the federal party conference.  The federal management committee is responsible for planning the finances of the federal party.  In addition to the committee members, the federal management committee is elected by the party conference members, the presidents of the CDU state associations and minister presidents as well as the presidents of the federal unions are also included.

The leadership of the CDU Germany consists of the President, the Secretary-General, the four acting presidents, the Federal Treasurer and seven additional members that are elected by the federal party conference.  As long as they are members of the CDU, the Chancellor, the President or Vice President of the German Bundestag, the President of the CDU/CSU Parliamentary Party and the President of the EPP Parliamentary Group of the European Parliament also belong to the leadership, in addition to the minisiter presidents, who are coopted members.  The leadership is an extensive organ for the decisions made by the federal management committee.

For professional advice and support, the federal management committee can choose to organize specialized federal committees.  The specialized committees as well as the workers and lecture groups of the CDU develop concepts for various political areas.

The CDU is a federally functioning party.  In a total of 17 state associations (therefrom 14 in the federal states excluding Bavaria, as well as one each in Braunschweig, Hannover and Oldenburg), 27 local associations, 336 district associations and more than 10,000 town associations about 520,000 CDU members are engaged throughout the nation.

History

The foundation upon which our politics rests is the Christian understanding between people and their accountability before God.  Our basic values of freedom, solidarity, and justice are formed therefrom.  The CDU is open to anyone who supports the dignity and freedom of all people and their basic convinctions.

Our party was established in 1945 by individuals who wanted to construct Germany's future with a Christian-influenced, non-denominational party of the people.  This new people's party consisted of Catholics and Protestant Christians, conservatives, liberals and Christian-socials, women and men from different regions, from all social classes and democratic traditions of our Fatherland.

The CDU Germany stands for a free and constitutional democracy, a social and ecological market economy, Germany's inclusion in the Western values and defense community, and the unification of the nation, as well as a unified Europe.

The CDU has always been the party of modern concepts, marking the pathway for the future.  Our ideas and conceptions successfully promoted reconstruction after the war, anchored our country solidly in the European Union and NATO and transformed Germany into a blooming community.  With the Reunification of Germany, one of our greatest political visions was fulfilled.

A humane pathway, guided by Christian principles: that is the compass and standard for our politics.  Upon this foundation, we proceed to help further develop our community in a ever-changing world.  We will continue down this path with courage and strength in order to give our children and grandchildren a brighter future in the 21st Century.