There are farewell greetings that torment sender and recipient alike. Hypocritical regret when someone finally leaves that the others have long wanted to get rid of. Elegant obeisances for innovative ideas, openness and team spirit, even if one has become ossified egocentric over the years.
What is currently being called after Marcel Huber, who surprisingly ends his political career, sounds much more honest. His wife is seriously ill, now his place is by her side, he says – and resigns from his state parliament mandate at the end of this week.
Down-to-earth, unpretentious, absolutely honest, these are descriptions for Marcel Huber – even before he declared his retirement. He did not develop it in a long party career, Huber entered politics relatively late. In 2001 he joined the CSU, in 2003 he moved into the state parliament, in 2007 the then Prime Minister Günther Beckstein made him Secretary of State for the Environment. In the state elections in 2008, when the CSU crashed disastrously and lost the absolute majority, Huber still got a brilliant result at home in Mühldorf. With 54.1 percent of the vote, he achieved the best result across Bavaria. In 2013, too, he got the most first votes in the entire Free State.
That never made him arrogant, on the contrary, with a downright yogi-like calmness he took on the roles that his party leaders and the CSU’s sacred regional division imposed on him. In 2008, he was Minister of Agriculture for one night in Horst Seehofer’s first cabinet – consequently with his long experience as a veterinarian – until he found himself again as Secretary of State because of that higher order. He later became head of the state chancellery and environment minister, valued across all parties. He too had problems, but he was never criticized as a person. His integrity is seen as indubitable, to that extent that is rare in politics.
He accepted his departure from the cabinet without complaint
Even more seldom, however, is that Huber is not at all suitable for gossiping about colleagues or even Prime Minister, he is not someone who ambushes party friends or competitors, possibly for his own benefit. Even when Prime Minister Markus Söder no longer wanted him in the cabinet in 2018, there were others who criticized him. Huber accepted it, even if he would probably have liked to stay. Or become President of the Landtag, but he was denied that.
Now he is also giving up his honorary posts as President of the Bavarian Music Council and as chairman of the Catholic men’s club in Tuntenhausen, a refuge for maintaining tradition and a love of the homeland, which may seem a bit dusty to some. At Huber, the love of home sounds real, the father of three children was in command of the Ampfing fire brigade for a long time, until politics challenged him too much. He played the double bass and bass tuba in the marching band and in his spare time he builds nativity scenes. The withdrawal from politics in order to devote himself entirely to his wife seems logical. Someone acts and doesn’t just talk, that’s great. And yet very unfortunate for Bavarian politics. Honestly.