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Status: 06.01.2023 1:05 p.m
Things are actually going well for CSU regional group leader Dobrindt. His recipe for success: clear words, close to populism. Cooperation with the CDU is also better than it has been for a long time. If it wasn’t for the state election.
“Opposition is Opportunity” – many made fun of this formulation by Alexander Dobrindt a year ago. Now, a year later, it is clear: the head of the CSU state group has made something out of some “opportunity”.
Dobrindt is now an irreplaceable mastermind and string puller in the Union’s leadership trio. Markus Söder and Friedrich Merz are both political alpha animals with a clear claim to power. But on the Berlin floor, the party leaders do not (yet) move with the same implicitness as Dobrindt, who has been a member of the Bundestag for 20 years, was CSU general secretary, transport minister in the Merkel cabinet and head of the regional groups when the Union faction was almost threatened with a split because of migration policy .
“It’s about getting the Bayern election year 2023 off to a good start,” Kirsten Girschick, ARD Berlin, on the CSU meeting
tagesschau24 11:00 a.m., 6.1.2023
Enmity with Söder overcome
With Dobrindt, Söder has a storm-tested and loyal governor in Berlin. The year 2023, which begins for the CSU with the exam in Seeon, is a fateful year for the party. Söder actually has to improve the historically poor election result of 2018 – and Dobrindt will support him to the best of his ability. The mutual dislike that both of them used to cultivate has given way to a “good working relationship”.
Examination of the CSU national group
The CSU state group in the Bundestag begins its traditional winter retreat in the Upper Bavarian Seeon monastery today. At the start of the meeting, the CSU chairman and Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder will travel to his party’s members of the Bundestag. Among other things, Söder will report on his strategy for the state elections. Bavaria will elect a new state parliament in October. A good election result is extremely important for the national political significance of the CSU.
The closed conference that took place in Wildbad Kreuth until a few years ago lasts until Sunday. Other guests include Hesse’s Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU), who also has a state election ahead of him this year. The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, is also coming to Seeon. Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita is also expected.
Dobrindt relies on hardliner positions
Especially since Dobrindt is now putting on the secretary-general’s coat, which has long since been discarded, more often. He verbally robustly warns of the emergence of a “climate RAF” or a “sale” of German citizenship. Such political exaggerations quickly slip from his lips, and unlike in Merkel’s day, he can be quite sure of the approval of the party leadership.
And since neither Mario Czaja nor the new CSU general secretary Martin Huber have so far attracted attention due to their particular political scuffle, Dobrindt has plenty of room to set his own accents.
Advantage more conservative CDU leadership
In general – due to the rise of Friedrich Merz to the top of the CDU, the sister parties are closer than they have been for a long time. Dobrindt benefits from this – his fundamental aversion to the Greens no longer seems outdated since CSU boss Söder ended his flirtation with the Greens and ruled out a coalition in Bavaria.
The sister parties are also more united on migration policy than they have been for a long time. A joint interview in “Münchner Merkur”, in which Söder honestly assured Merz that he had given up all chancellor ambitions – there was rarely so much demonstrative harmony between the Union parties.
Bourgeois voters don’t want a fight
This is also due to the now clear division of roles between the CDU-CSU and Berlin-Bavaria. “Constructive opposition” with Merz, conservative “wadl biting” with Dobrindt and pure Bavaria at Söder.
In this combination, the Union did achieve a few things: the 100 billion euro special fund for the Bundeswehr is only available for military defense spending, the trust period and protective assets had to be adjusted for citizen money, and the gas levy was overturned and replaced by the gas price brake.
Opposition is an opportunity – also in the state elections?
At the moment, the CSU is doing well in polls – the question remains as to which priorities should be set in the election campaign until October 2023. Pure traffic light bashing will not be enough, both Söder and Dobrindt know that. But a very big topic for the election is not yet in sight. Simple, understandable, emotional and often just short of populism – that would be an ideal topic for Dobrindt’s election campaign.
Think, for example, of the “foreigner’s toll” and the “mother’s pension”. Both were well received in the beer tent – and once again secured the CSU an absolute majority in 2013. Most recently, the head of the CSU state group also used the New Year’s Eve riots in the interests of his party: If Berlin continues to be so chaotic, then the state financial equalization must be stopped. In Bavaria, that goes down well with many voters – and that’s what regional group leader Dobrindt is all about this year.