Almost a year before the state elections, the CSU is meeting for its party conference this weekend. Secretary General Martin Huber opened the meeting on Friday afternoon with a greeting to the more than 800 delegates present. CSU boss Söder then stepped up to the lectern and delivered a keynote speech from Corona to Ukraine to energy policy, unsurprisingly combined with juicy criticism of the traffic light government in Berlin.
The coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP called Söder “one of the weakest governments that we have ever had in the Federal Republic”. Söder attacked the Greens and their Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck particularly hard, who was overwhelmed as Minister of Economics and not crisis-proof. In this context, Söder more or less directly demanded that Habeck be dismissed. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) should think about a “cabinet reshuffle”, according to Söder.
The CSU boss also addressed the accusation that since the defeat in the federal elections, the CSU has only complained about Berlin and has not come up with any solutions of its own. “Is that just bashing? No, it’s a deep concern,” said Söder, who emphasized that the Germans and Bavarians had never been so insecure in the post-war period as they are at the moment. Söder said that the criticism from Bavaria had an effect. “The pressure was successful!”
For example in the debate about nuclear power, which will not be switched off at the end of the year as planned, but will continue until spring 2023. On this point, Söder renewed his call for a further extension of the service life for the last three German nuclear power plants and called for the purchase of new fuel elements – which the federal government has so far ruled out.
He also announced a far-reaching electrolysis program to produce green hydrogen. Bavaria will invest in the construction and promotion of hydrogen pipelines” and will not wait for decisions from the federal government. “We will take it into our own hands.”
Söder rejects stricter corona rules and indicates a relaxation of the quarantine obligation
In his speech, Bavaria’s Prime Minister also indicated that the corona quarantine rules in Bavaria could soon be relaxed. Covid-19 is now “de facto similar to the flu” and should be treated as such. There is no legal quarantine requirement for the flu. Söder also sees “no reason to wear masks in autumn and winter,” he said and praised the decision to hold the Oktoberfest in Munich.
In the further course of the speech, the CSU leader took on numerous projects of the traffic light government – from the planned legalization of cannabis (“I don’t want any drugs in Bavaria”) to the citizen’s benefit, which is to replace Hartz IV in January (“Will we again become a make Europe’s sick man”).
Even before the party congress, Söder and his general secretary Martin Huber had announced that they would use the event to position the CSU as an “counter-proposal” to the three-party coalition in Berlin – and that’s exactly what happened. Söder’s appearance ended up being a general settlement with the federal government, which has been in power for a year and is dealing with multiple crises.
Only at the end did the Prime Minister talk about the state elections in Bavaria, which will take place in a year. It is Söder’s second election after he lost the absolute majority in the state parliament in 2018 – fresh in office – and had to form a coalition with the Free Voters. At the time, Söder was punished by the voters for his tough legal course, with which he wanted to dig up votes from the AfD milieu. Which in the end didn’t work. The CSU is now “much better prepared than in 2018” for this election campaign, according to Söder. He only mentioned one danger: the CSU, which has been in government for decades, must not appear arrogant. “Confidence yes, but please don’t take off.”
At the end of the two-day party conference on Saturday, CDU leader Friedrich Merz will be a guest at the Augsburg exhibition center, and he will probably be no less harsh on the federal government.