CSU party conference: With traffic light criticism in Söder’s election year

CSU leader Söder opened the party conference in Augsburg with a general verbal attack on the federal government. The traffic light seems overwhelmed, the Greens are a “fair weather party”. There are elections in Bavaria next year.

CSU boss Söder has committed his party to the state election year and at the same time announced more than just traffic light criticism. At the start of the party conference in Augsburg, however, there was a lot of criticism of the federal government from the Bavarian Prime Minister. Söder accused the traffic light parties of historically poor government work. “The traffic light is probably one of the weakest governments that we have ever had in the Federal Republic of Germany,” said Söder. In the current energy crisis, the government of the SPD, Greens and FDP seems overwhelmed, they are not up to the problems. Söder attacked the Greens in particular, saying they were “a fair-weather party, but not a party for times of crisis”.

Söder therefore justifies the criticism of the federal government that he has been hearing for months. It’s not just about “bashing” or “scolding”, his criticism is based on a deep concern. In order to protect Bavaria, you can’t just watch the “fundamental mistakes”.

Söder’s warning: pride comes before a fall

And so he shared: He cannot remember when Germany was ever as isolated as it is today, said Söder with a view to foreign policy and, above all, the recent upset in Franco-German relations. Former Chancellor Angela Merkel has always maintained a network with other countries, but this is different with Scholz: “Berlin is currently appearing extremely snooty and arrogant,” said Bavaria’s head of government. He therefore advises “more cooperation instead of arrogant confrontation. Because arrogance is the preliminary stage and comes before a fall.”

Söder also criticized Scholz’s approval of the partial takeover of a terminal at the port of Hamburg by the Chinese state-owned company Cosco. “It’s the wrong signal,” said the CSU chairman. This is clear after the experiences with the dependency on Russia. He warned against “peddling” the infrastructure.

“We are number one”

A year after the Union defeat in the federal election and a year before the Bavarian election, Söder saw his party back on track. “A year ago the mood was difficult,” he admitted, since there had already been a “depression” in the party. In the meantime, however, we have regained our footing. “We’re back, we’re stable again and we’re committed to leading our country through this crisis.” About the position of the CSU in Bavaria, he said: “We are number one and we will remain so.”

Söder’s party congress repertoire also included another threatened lawsuit against the state financial equalization. “We will prepare a lawsuit,” he repeated earlier statements. He justified this by saying that Bavaria’s expenses had become too great. Every Bavarian citizen pays around 1,000 euros for a Berliner and even 1,200 euros for a Bremen resident. Bavaria is in solidarity, “but not stupid,” said Söder. “In times of crisis, I find that Bavarian tax money is in particularly good hands in Bavaria.”

Bavaria is currently responsible for around half of the total compensation volume, and the state’s payments have now risen to around nine billion euros. As early as 2013, Bavaria – at that time together with Hesse – had filed a lawsuit against the state financial equalization. In 2017, the two countries withdrew the lawsuit after negotiations.

CDU boss Merz is coming tomorrow

A new state parliament will be elected in Bavaria in autumn 2023. According to current polls, Söder’s coalition of CSU and Free Voters can continue to count on a clear majority in Parliament. But is that enough for the self-proclaimed Bayern party CSU? If the result falls below the 37 percent mark, the air for Söder should get thin – even if the CSU is then still the clear number one in the country.

Tomorrow, however, Söder’s colleague from the sister party will have the floor. Friedrich Merz speaks at the end of the two-day CSU party conference in Augsburg. Before that, the party conference will discuss the basic program of the Christian Social Party. Speeches by the CSU MEP and head of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, and the head of the regional group, Alexander Dobrindt, are also planned.