Overview
- The Berlin CDU Landesvorstand unanimously confirmed Finance Senator Stefan Evers as its Spitzenkandidat on Monday and made him acting party chair.
- Within hours Evers pushed out Generalsecretary Ottilie Klein and installed Lukas Krieger as acting Generalsecretary to consolidate his control of the campaign team.
- In an FAZ interview Evers proposed that able state benefit recipients 'give back' by helping to clean the city and said he would cut free school meals for well‑off families, proposals that have drawn swift legal and political criticism.
- Evers steps in after Mayor Kai Wegner withdrew as lead candidate following scrutiny of his crisis handling during a January multi‑day blackout, while Wegner remains mayor until a formal handover and the CDU faces low poll numbers with about two months until the vote.
- Coverage divides on tone: taz and other outlets stress legal limits and social fallout of Evers’s proposals, while conservative outlets report the moves as a decisive campaign reset aimed at stopping a left‑green government.