BERLIN (AP) — Germany's health minister says the country's main center-right party needs to make clearer what it stands for as he competes to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel as its leader. He is emphasizing the need to curb unregulated migration.
The 38-year-old Jens Spahn is one of three candidates vying to succeed Merkel as leader of the Christian Democratic Union. He and onetime Merkel rival Friedrich Merz stand for a more conservative approach than the chancellor, while CDU general secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer is more in line with Merkel's centrist course.
Merkel plans to step down as party leader in December but remain chancellor until the next election.
Spahn has long talked tough on migration, which he described in an article for Thursday's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper as the "elephant in the room."
