Jens Spahn resigns as CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader over surrogacy scandal

Still a member of the Bundestag and recently a father: Jens Spahn Photo: Carsten Koall/Getty Images

By Sabine am Orde

Jens Spahn was the most powerful Christian Democrat after the Chancellor. He survived many crises. Now he has fallen over surrogacy.

When it was actually already over, Jens Spahn still tried to redirect the public gaze — away from the loss of credibility, away from the accusations of double standards that had rained down on him with increasing force in recent days — towards the joy of children and family happiness.

"In the last few days, I have become aware that my personal happiness, starting a family with my husband and becoming a father, is not compatible with my political office," Spahn wrote in the message to the members of the CDU and CSU, in which he announced his resignation as parliamentary group leader on Saturday afternoon. This sounds a bit like it is about the problems of reconciling work and family that many parents know.

Even when Spahn addresses the "balancing act between my personal decision to have a child through surrogacy and the understandable expectation of me as chairman of our parliamentary group," it merely says: This has become greater than I expected. Which one probably has to interpret as: Spahn, who is quite experienced in dealing with crises, thought he would get away with his decision to have a child with his husband in the USA with the help of a surrogate mother — even though:

• Surrogacy is prohibited in Germany
• The CDU is strictly against surrogacy and reaffirmed this rejection with a resolution at its party conference in February
• Spahn himself has expressed critical views on surrogacy in the past

There could well have been ways out of the personal dilemma, which one cannot deny Spahn. He could have spoken out at the party conference and made it clear that his opinion had changed — and therefore he could not agree to the motion. But Spahn remained silent. The surrogate mother in the USA was already pregnant at that time, while Spahn's re-election as parliamentary group leader in May was still pending. Even the Chancellor had no idea about the change of opinion and the family planning of his parliamentary group leader.

Merz Also Caught Off Guard

Friedrich Merz only learned of the birth of the child a few days before Spahn and his husband made it public via Bild last Wednesday. Merz congratulated; the explosive force contained in this news was therefore dramatically underestimated not only by Spahn. He had not expected such a large wave of outrage, Merz admitted in the pre-announced ZDF summer interview on Sunday: "At least not to this extent."

But a storm of indignation quickly brewed within the party — in chat groups and social networks, in emails and on the phone. The state chairman from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the general secretary from Saxony-Anhalt publicly demanded Spahn's resignation. Both are currently in difficult election campaigns against a strong AfD, both know: What Spahn is doing here essentially confirms the hatred of the political class with which the AfD is so successfully campaigning. In other words: Those at the top preach water and drink wine.

In telephone conferences, it quickly became clear: The majority of CDU state chairmen were of the opinion that Spahn could not be kept. The federal executive board of the Women's Union expressed itself similarly internally on Friday evening in a regularly scheduled online meeting. This is also because human reproduction is a very special topic for the CDU — one that moves the party at its core with its Christian image of humanity. Having a child carried for money is simply not acceptable for most Christian Democrats.

With Jens Spahn, the most powerful CDU politician after the Chancellor has resigned — a gifted networker and string-puller.

After that, Merz pushed Spahn to resign. "The decision is correct and was unavoidable," the Chancellor, who is also CDU leader, coolly announced in a hastily sent press release early Saturday afternoon. And further: "Credibility is the highest good in politics."

Is Merz glad to be rid of Spahn?