BERLIN, April 5 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) will only be contesting one election campaign in Germany before the European elections, CDU Secretary General Paul Ziemiak said on Friday.
Merkel would appear alongside the CDU/CSU joint top candidate Manfred Weber (CSU) on May 24 in Munich, ahead of the European elections in Germany on May 26.
Although Merkel would also make appearances with Weber on some of the dates in other EU member states, the incumbent chancellor would largely leave the stage to her successor as CDU chairwoman, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, within Germany.
During the European election campaign, the CDU was going to focus on prosperity, security and peace, as highlighted on the party's posters presented by Ziemiak on Friday.
The CDU wanted an EU with "secure borders to the outside world, open borders to the inside" Ziemiak emphasized.
Neither populists nor "radicals who want to harm Europe, whether from the left or the right" would be a focus for the conservative party, said Ziemiak. Instead, the CDU wanted a "competition on the best ideas" for the future of Europe.
Ziemiak put the cost of the CDU campaign for the European elections at about 10 million euros (11.2 million U.S. dollars), which was about as much as in previous years.
