The idea of a “constitutional quarter of an hour” in Bavaria’s schools should be on the cabinet’s agenda this Tuesday. Prime Minister and CSU leader Markus Söder announced this to the party executive committee, said General Secretary Martin Huber on Monday after a meeting. The CSU and Free Voters announced the project in their coalition agreement in the fall. According to this, a passage from the Basic Law or the Bavarian Constitution should be discussed or values should be discussed in 15 minutes a week; Söder said at the time that “maximum pedagogical freedom” was not about “institutional teaching.”
However, details about the implementation are still unclear; these should be available on Tuesday. The quarter hour, said Huber, offers “the opportunity to promote basic democratic attitudes and thus counteract radical tendencies.” The current situation in particular shows that awareness of the fundamental importance of the constitution and the legitimacy of the state order must be strengthened.
What is meant by this was the focus of the CSU board. An adopted declaration commits to resolutely combating all types of extremism, such as right-wing extremism. Huber welcomed the ruling at the Münster Higher Administrative Court that the AfD can continue to be monitored as a suspected case by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The AfD is also relevant for another point in the CSU paper, the protection of Germany from foreign influence. “Cash from China, rubles from Russia,” said Huber, and the AfD is “the extended arm” of these states. Attacks on democratic elected officials, such as the recent one in Saxony against the SPD European politician Matthias Ecke, are “absolutely unacceptable”.
The CSU is concerned about the “anti-Semitic suppression of opinions at universities”, and in the event of blockades and incidents, the universities need to take a “clear stance” – exmatriculation and the expulsion of international students must also be possible. Huber alluded to recent pro-Palestinian actions in Berlin. According to the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution, corresponding “committees” have also been formed at some universities in the Free State on the initiative of students – at their events, the atrocities of Hamas were presented as a legitimate defense, it was said a few weeks ago.
Apparently there have been no tumults or anything like that so far. There should be no tolerance towards radical Islam, added Huber. “Anyone who calls for a caliphate, spreads hatred of Jews or denies Israel’s right to exist does not belong in Germany.” Clubs and associations of radical Islam must be consistently persecuted and banned, according to the CSU paper. Islamists should – wherever possible – be deported or, if they have dual citizenship, their German passport should be revoked.
The meeting also discussed the European elections in June. Manfred Weber, CSU deputy and top candidate, announced that he wanted to “convince people programmatically” in the rest of the election campaign. For example, when it comes to migration, the European Pact now needs implementation; Among other things, by increasing Frontex border protection and a “Mediterranean Pact” in order to “explore return options” with other neighboring states. According to the BR “Bayerntrend” from last week, the CSU is at 41 percent, i.e. in the range of its European election results from 2019. The Greens received 14 percent in the survey, the AfD twelve, the SPD and FW nine each.