World
Thorsten Frei designated CDU candidate to lead Unionsfraktion in Bundestag
Friedrich Merz (CDU) and Markus Söder (CSU) proposed on July 22, 2026 Thorsten Frei (CDU) to head the Unionsfraktion — the common CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag. Frei, 52, is currently Minister at the Federal Chancellery (Kanzleramtsminister) and a close ally of Merz, and must be officially elected on July 29 in an extraordinary session. He would succeed Jens Spahn, who resigned on July 18 following pressure over the revelation that he and his husband used surrogacy in the United States, a practice banned in Germany.