At the start of the campaign for the European elections, the CSU is extremely pro-European. At the party conference in Munich, party leader Söder praised the EU as an “unprecedented opportunity for freedom”, and leading candidate Weber wants to massively arm Europe.
The CSU met in Munich for a party conference. The focus is on the election program of the Christian Socialists for the European elections on June 9th, the so-called Bavaria Agenda. Their motto is “For a strong Bavaria in Europe”. At the delegates’ meeting, CSU boss and Bavarian head of government Markus Söder as well as CSU European top candidate Manfred Weber positioned themselves in a decidedly pro-European manner.
In his opening speech, Söder declared the entry of seven CSU politicians into the European Parliament as an election goal: “We want to win this election for ourselves and ideally send seven members to the European Parliament. Seven plus x, that would be a good result,” said the Bavarian Prime Minister. The CSU is currently represented by six members in the EU Parliament.
CSU is at 40 percent in surveys
According to the few European election surveys available for Bavaria so far, the CSU is well ahead of the competition in the vote in the Free State with values of more than 40 percent. In 2019, the CSU received 40.7 percent of the votes and was even able to improve the 2014 result slightly (0.2 percentage points).
Söder emphasized that the starting point for the election was “not that bad.” Now we have to mobilize in the election campaign to defend Europe against its enemies. “Europe is hope, the future and the real prospect of peace,” emphasized Söder. The EU is an unprecedented opportunity for freedom.
In his speech, Söder supported the criticized EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. He prefers this much more than some social democrat that no one knows. An EU commissioner from the Greens for Germany would also be a bad prospect for him – “a Green commissioner for Germany, that would be pretty much the stupidest thing we could do. That’s why we’re fighting for Ursula von der Leyen.”
Söder: Scholz should “no longer play any roles” in 2025
At the same time, the election on June 9th is also an important vote on the policies of the traffic light government in Berlin, said Söder. They don’t want “green dominance in Europe and no black-green for Germany.” However, the CSU leader warned against voting for the AfD out of criticism of the SPD, Greens and FDP in the federal government: it is a party “with a mean face” and which repeatedly emphasizes: “Europe must die”.
With a view to next year’s federal election, Söder had previously spoken out in favor of a return to a black-red government led by the Union and with the SPD as a junior partner. The current Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) should no longer play a role in this, Söder told “Welt am Sonntag”. Scholz is likely to be replaced as the leading man in the SPD after an election defeat, said Söder. From his point of view, this is also positive, because “with Pistorius as a junior partner, more can be imagined,” he expressed a preference for the current Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD).
Söder’s categorical and renewed rejection of the Greens is not without controversy in the Union – the CDU leadership, for example, views such preliminary determinations critically as they drastically limit the Union’s room for maneuver in negotiations. No such preliminary decisions have been attributed to CDU leader Friedrich Merz, but those around him say that he does not share Söder’s reservations against the Greens.
Weber for massive rearmament of Europe
In his speech, the CSU’s top candidate for the European elections, EPP leader Weber, addressed, among other things, the situation in the Middle East and called for massive armament within the European Union. “We finally have to get going in order to be able to protect and defend our European continent,” said the 51-year-old.
He referred to Iran’s missile and drone fire on Israel two weeks ago, which resulted in no major damage due to Israel’s successful missile defense. Weber said, “Iran has missiles that could reach Munich.” Unlike Israel, the Europeans are not in a position to successfully protect themselves in the event of such an attack.
In the fight against child abuse and legal freedoms on the Internet, Weber called for more powers for the police and judiciary in Europe. “We as a party of internal security must work in Brussels over the next few years to ensure 100% legal certainty for online investigations and data retention.” So far, investigators have repeatedly despaired of the lack of options to secure evidence to the same extent that is a matter of course in the analog world.