Business
Jens Spahn Resigns as CDU/CSU Parliamentary Group Leader After Surrogacy Controversy
Jens Spahn, parliamentary group leader for the CDU/CSU at the German Bundestag, resigned on July 18, 2026, following explicit pressure from Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The crisis erupted on July 15, 2026, when Spahn and his husband Daniel Funke announced the birth of their son Georg, carried by a surrogate mother in the United States — a practice that is illegal in Germany and opposed by the CDU, a position Spahn himself had previously defended. Merz described the resignation as 'just and unavoidable.' Alexander Hoffmann (CSU) is serving as interim head of the group.