federal election
Söder only wants to nominate chancellor candidates after the 2024 East elections
CSU boss Markus Söder (l) answered questions from ARD journalist Matthias Deiß in the summer interview. photo
© Carsten Koall/dpa
CDU and CSU do not come to rest. Now CSU boss Söder wants a new schedule for the choice of the next chancellor candidate. At the same time he gives the Union other tips along the way.
According to the CSU boss, the Union should nominate its candidate for chancellor in the coming year Markus Söder will not be chosen in late summer, as previously explained, but only in autumn. “I am in favor of doing that after the elections in the new federal states next year, that we then decide,” said the Bavarian Prime Minister on the ARD online program “Ask yourself”. Söder is thus deviating from the previous line of the CDU and CSU, according to which the leaders of the two Union parties will make a joint proposal for the candidate in late summer 2024.
Söder justified the later date with the state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg. It makes “little sense” to send a chancellor candidate to three state elections. In addition, he also believes “that we have to analyze the results of these state elections very, very sensitively and very precisely and that we may also find good arguments for the personnel issue.”
Söder: Don’t become a candidate for chancellor
Despite good poll numbers for himself, Söder ruled out his own candidacy for chancellor in the ARD summer interview: “I never thought that our country – Germany – would get into trouble like that. You have to say it like that. I’ll certainly help – too from Bavaria and also from the CSU – that this Germany gets going again, but not as chancellor.” He doesn’t give much in surveys. “I have my clear compass. I want us to have a strong Bayern, but I also want us to have a safe and stable Germany.”
With a view to the ongoing debate, particularly in the CDU, about a possible membership decision when choosing the Union Chancellor candidate, Söder did not commit to a special procedure. In the end, you have to consider whether the two party leaders will make a direct proposal or whether it will be a procedure in which the base decides. It is important that it takes place as a unit and not like last time, a week-long argument with serious injuries and uncertainty among the population,” said Söder. However, he also pointed out that the statutes of the CSU do not yet provide for a member vote.
In a recent interview, CDU leader Friedrich Merz was open to a candidate for chancellor by member decision: “The members made a clear decision at the end of 2021. I am the only chairman in the history of the CDU who relied on such a broad member vote You don’t have to repeat that as often as you like, but it’s an instrument in the statutes,” said the party leader. When asked whether he ruled out a basic decision for the K question, the CDU and Union faction leader replied: “I can’t rule out anything that is in our statutes.”
“The Germans are extremely insecure”
In addition, Söder called on the Union to be more united. “The Germans are extremely insecure. That’s also the reason why the AfD is growing in part: because people are even worried that the system might no longer work. And that’s where the Union side needs what the Union can do best : Convey security – that is, stability and security,” he said in the summer interview. He finds all intra-party discussions, “even if they are overinterpreted in my opinion,” wrong. The Union must act as one and show what “ideas for a solution” it has – and not just say what the others are doing wrong”.
According to Söder, Merz’s authority has still not been damaged despite the many criticisms, including internal party criticism, in recent weeks – also with regard to his possible ambitions for a chancellor candidacy. “I work great with him. I think he also has the right compass. That’s my personal belief,” said Söder. The debate about cooperation with the AfD also means “no lasting damage”. But it was important, even from Merz himself, to make it clear again that there would be no cooperation between the Union and AfD at the municipal level either. “And that’s the end of the matter from my point of view.”