Resignation after party pressure

Jens Spahn, the 46-year-old head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, resigned on Saturday, 18 July 2026, after a week of mounting criticism over his use of a surrogate mother in the United States. Chancellor Friedrich Merz had called Spahn earlier that day and asked him to step down, according to the tabloid Bild. In a letter to colleagues obtained by ARD, Spahn wrote that he had realized his personal happiness in starting a family with his husband was incompatible with his political office. Merz later described the resignation as "right" and "inevitable," adding that "credibility is the most valuable asset in politics."

“I realized that my personal happiness in starting a family with my husband and becoming a father is incompatible with my political office.”

The surrogacy contradiction

The controversy erupted on Wednesday, 15 July, when Spahn and his husband Daniel Funke announced on Instagram the birth of their son Georg via a surrogate in the US. Surrogacy is banned in Germany under the Embryo Protection Act, and the CDU/CSU has consistently opposed any legalization. Spahn himself, as a former health minister and parliamentary leader, had repeatedly spoken against the practice, once referring to it as a "rented womb." In late October 2025, a parliamentary commission was set up to examine possible legalization of altruistic surrogacy, and Spahn again voiced his opposition. The CDU had reaffirmed its stance at a party conference in February 2026.

“Jens Spahn places himself above German law.”

Political fallout and credibility questions

The backlash was swift. On Thursday, 16 July, deputy family minister Michael Brand publicly accused Spahn of "unreliable behavior." Former CDU interior policy spokesman Wolfgang Bosbach told n-tv that the issue was not about personal happiness but about political credibility, and that politicians must not appear to have more rights than ordinary citizens. At a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in Augustusburg on Friday, Merz declined to defend Spahn, stating only that there was no reason to change the law and that the matter would be discussed by the party leadership on Monday. The affair overshadowed the Franco-German meeting, which had brought ten French ministers to Brühl near Cologne.

“The issue here is not the personal happiness of the Spahn family, but the credibility of politics. It cannot create the impression that politicians have more rights than everyone else.”

Election pressure and the AfD threat

The resignation comes at a delicate moment for the conservatives. Three state elections are scheduled for September 2026 in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Berlin. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) leads in polls in the first two states, while in Berlin the CDU's candidate and incumbent governing mayor had already withdrawn from the race due to scandals and mismanagement of a winter blackout and a recent heatwave. Federal polling shows the CDU's numbers slipping, trailing the AfD in some surveys. The Spahn affair has deepened concerns within the party about a gap between rhetoric and reality that could further erode voter trust.

Succession and next steps

Merz announced that the process to replace Spahn would begin immediately, in coordination with CSU leader Markus Söder. Among the names circulating as potential successors are Thorsten Frei, head of the Chancellery; Alexander Dobrindt, the CSU interior minister; Carsten Linnemann, CDU general secretary; Nina Warken, the CDU health minister; Michael Brand, deputy family minister; and Günter Krings, deputy parliamentary group leader. The CDU presidium had been scheduled to discuss the matter on Monday, 20 July, but Spahn's resignation preempted that meeting. Merz is expected to address the affair further during his traditional summer television interview on Sunday from his hometown in Sauerland.