With a lot of cheers and long applause, the CSU welcomed Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet in Nuremberg at their party conference on Saturday. “I don’t know whether you will be greeted so euphorically everywhere, with us you will,” said CSU boss Markus Söder after moving into the exhibition hall with Laschet for minutes. “We want you to become Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. The stage is yours,” said Söder to Laschet.
In the past few weeks there had been many critical tones against Laschet in the CSU. On Thursday, CSU General Secretary Markus Blume said in an interview that with Söder the Union would “of course” be better off in the polls. In the polls, the CDU and CSU are currently clearly behind the SPD and only come up with values of 20 to 25 percent.
Laschet wanted to take a first step out of the polls for the Union at the CSU party congress – at least he seemed to be able to inspire the delegates of the sister party. In his speech, Laschet attacked the SPD and the Greens sharply. “Tax increases and more bureaucracy will endanger prosperity,” said the CDU leader. The delicate plant growth after the corona pandemic should not be endangered. “It doesn’t matter who is in the next federal government.”
Laschet once again criticized the behavior of SPD candidate for chancellor and Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz after the public prosecutor’s office searched his ministry. “With the financial supervision I would have liked a little more care in several cases,” said Laschet. In addition, after the search, it would have been right to assure the public prosecutor’s office of support and not to cast doubts on the rule of law.
Among other things, Laschet called for stronger European military capabilities than lessons learned from Afghanistan. You have to be able to secure an airport like the one in Kabul without the Americans, he says at the CSU party congress. For this, the Bundeswehr must be better equipped and receive an armed drone, for example. “But Olaf Scholz has been refusing for months because he is afraid of the left in his own party,” he says, referring to a procurement plan by the Defense Ministry.
On Friday, Söder was confirmed in his office as party chairman for another two years by the delegates of the CSU party congress with 87.6 percent of the vote. He landed just above the result of 87.4 percent in his first election at the beginning of 2019, but fell short of the result when he was re-elected in October 2019 – at that time it was 91.3 percent.
Previously, Söder had given a speech, which was acknowledged with applause for minutes, in which he attacked SPD candidate Olaf Scholz, warned of a left slide in the federal election in a good two weeks and of anti-democratic tendencies in circles of the lateral thinker scene.
And Söder demonstratively backed Laschet, with whom he had once fought for the Union’s candidacy for chancellor. “We are 100 percent behind our common candidate for chancellor and want to see Armin Laschet in the chancellery,” said Söder on Friday. The numbers from the surveys for the CSU and for the Union are not sufficient. He called to the SPD and the Greens not to be too sure of victory. “We’ll catch you on the last few meters,” he said.