If it gets really loud in the Bavarian state parliament, then there is very reliably a dispute between Free Voters and AfD behind it, or vice versa. Last week it was that time again. The AfD MP Ingo Hahn pretended to ask the FW parliamentary group leader Florian Streibl a question. And shot a poison arrow: How is it going with “your Amigo Prime Minister Markus Söder”? The addressee, the son of the cunning, CSU head of government Max Streibl (1988 to 1993), who became known with the exclamation of “Saludos amigos”, could only get out of his skin.
“His amigo friend” – he sees that as “a personal insult” out of “malicious intent,” said Streibl. “My family has suffered enough from that term.” That day came from Streibl a clever analysis. The political style of the AfD “has not changed much despite the election of the new board. The content has remained the same and has only become a bit weaker rhetorically”.
Christian Klingen and Ulrich Singer replaced the duo Ingo Hahn and Katrin Ebner-Steiner as parliamentary group leaders a good two months ago after a long power struggle. In response to the Prime Minister, Klingen now looked as if the leisurely uncle had decided to spontaneously politicize while having a morning pint, Singer sometimes sounds like a hippy school representative. Ebner-Steiner’s crackling Lower Bavarian appearances, on the other hand, are definitely entertaining, and Hahn, although dripping with chutzpah, is simply a good speaker.
And otherwise? The AfD has either settled their ongoing dispute or they can hide it well; Nothing negative gets out, and no property damage was reported to the Landtag Office. That was different last year, when the arguments were so hands-on that a plexiglass pane broke and the medical kit was necessary.
More team, more professionalism was the goal of the newcomers at the start, some expected more moderate tones. Not much has been heard of this in the corona debates. But what there are, for example: press conferences, they were a real rarity among the former leaders. Another goal was to “appear more Bavarian”. The parliamentary group’s email signature has recently been adorned with a white and blue heart. A stroke of genius!