Resignation after Merz ultimatum

Jens Spahn, the 46-year-old head of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, resigned on Saturday 18 July 2026. The move came hours after Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who also leads the CDU, demanded his departure. In a letter to members of the conservative bloc, Spahn wrote that his personal happiness of starting a family with his husband Daniel Funke and becoming a father could not be reconciled with his political office. He also criticised the "growing ruthlessness in public debate" and said his family was now his top priority.

“In recent days I realized that my personal happiness of starting a family with my husband and becoming a father cannot be reconciled with my political office.”

Alexander Hoffmann of the CSU will serve as acting parliamentary group leader until a successor is chosen. Hoffmann called Spahn's decision "worthy of the highest respect" and said the group remains capable of acting.

The surrogacy that triggered the crisis

The controversy erupted on Wednesday 15 July when the tabloid Bild published photos of Spahn with a pram, revealing that he and Funke had become parents to a son, Georg, via a surrogate in the United States. Surrogacy is illegal in Germany, and the CDU has long opposed its legalisation on ethical grounds. Spahn himself had previously taken a firm stance against the practice. In 2015 he said that as a gay Christian he found it difficult to accept the idea of a rented womb, and as health minister in 2020 he blocked a proposal by the liberal FDP to ease restrictions.

The revelation immediately drew fire from within his own party. Hubert Hueppe, head of the CDU Seniors' Union, told Focus magazine that surrogacy was rightly banned in Germany and that it was not acceptable for politicians with power and money to place themselves above that ban. Marion Rosin, a CDU representative in Thuringia, told the BBC that public figures who set norms for society must abide by them themselves, and that loss of credibility required resignation.

Merz intervenes and party pressure mounts

By Friday evening, leading CDU figures, including state premiers and regional party chiefs, held a series of telephone calls. According to Der Spiegel, the participants were unanimous: Spahn should not remain in office. The CDU branch in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had already publicly called for his resignation, and at least one other state organisation had a similar statement ready, waiting only for a voluntary step by the politician.

On Saturday morning, Merz called Spahn and demanded his resignation, the DPA news agency reported, citing party leadership circles. The Chancellor's intervention made Spahn's position untenable. Merz later said the CDU's stance on surrogacy remained unchanged; at a party congress in February, the CDU had renewed its support for a total ban, arguing it wanted to prevent the commercialisation of the process.

Accusations of double standards

German media commentary focused heavily on the gap between Spahn's past political positions and his private actions. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung asked why Spahn had to fulfil his wish for a child in America if, as he claimed, surrogacy was not entirely prohibited under German law. The paper concluded that his decision was contrary to his party's line and not in the spirit of German law, turning a private matter into a political one.

“Is Spahn, the highest representative of the governing coalition in the Bundestag, above the law?”

Süddeutsche Zeitung noted that Spahn was the second CDU figure after MP and virologist Hendrik Streeck to become a father via surrogacy in the US. Streeck had announced his own surrogacy arrangement in April. The paper argued that the criticism of the discrepancy between public stance and private action was entirely justified and called on Spahn to disclose the circumstances of the surrogacy he used.

What happens next

The CDU/CSU parliamentary group now faces the task of electing a new leader. The affair has also reignited the broader German debate on surrogacy. The Stuttgarter Zeitung commented that the desire of same-sex couples to have children was understandable, but that an honest debate about legal changes was needed, whether through easier adoption or non-commercial surrogacy. It noted that Spahn, who had real influence over legislation, had not tried to change the law and instead helped shape policies that blocked such solutions.