Bavaria’s Greens would probably have better chances with Katharina Schulze as the sole top candidate. But the CSU does not allow a real duel with Markus Söder, which just wants to know as little as possible about the Greens.
After all, once Markus Söder mentions the Greens in his speech at the Junge Union. The Bavarian Greens, mind you, not the Greens in the federal government, he’s constantly moping about them. Although, does that even count as a mention when the CSU boss talks about the Greens state leader without calling his name because he “forgot” this name, as Söder smugly claims? Malice, but one with a purpose. Anyone can do the test themselves: Well, what’s the name of the Bavarian leader of the Greens?
His name is Thomas von Sarnowski. But that on the side, as a top duo in the state elections in 2023, the Greens are sending Katharina Schulze and her co-head of the parliamentary group, Ludwig Hartmann, whose notoriety is manageable. “It’s team time,” say the Greens. But they would have the greatest chances of election with their best-known, most dazzling figure at a solo point, with Katharina Schulze. A duel for the state chancellery, between the young feminist and the conservative, middle-aged Söder, who has just buried the expansion of the women’s quota in the CSU – that would have had potential for a highly interesting, maybe even a bit electrifying election campaign. But that’s not possible, at 37 Schulze is too young for the office of prime minister, according to the Bavarian constitution.
And that’s what the CSU wants, which is reluctant to remove the minimum age of 40. The fact that the Greens outperform the CSU with a single candidate Schulze is of course an unlikely scenario. The CSU still doesn’t want a duel with Schulze, it’s safe to say that every percentage point counts for Söder. And so that nothing really burns, he is completely silent about the green competition in Bavaria. His reputation advantage is Söder’s greatest trump card, it should stay that way, so he prefers to scold the Berlin Greens, almost on their behalf.
The Greens in Bavaria are well advised not to get involved in this proxy war – and to focus on the problems in Bavaria. There is enough of that.