Eight degrees, humid air, light fog over Banz Monastery. Doesn’t help, Thomas Kreuzer has to get out there now, in front of the cameras. It’s uncomfortable and it’s still early this Tuesday, but what’s to come has become routine at the CSU. The federal government is making “no move at all” to bring more money to Bavaria for buses and trains in the country, says Kreuzer, almost automatically. And although the number of refugees is increasing, including in Bavaria, “nothing is heard from Berlin at all.” Anything else besides greetings from the capital? Own ideas in the energy crisis maybe? “Of course we will consider: What can we do as a Free State?” Kreuzer said when asked.
So the CSU parliamentary group wants to think about something at their autumn retreat in Bad Staffelstein in Upper Franconia. At this point, whoever is cheeky throws in that the parliamentary group itself has been in an energy crisis for some time. In any case, one cannot claim that the CSU deputies have ignited one firework of ideas after the other in the recent past. Which also has to do with Kreuzer, who, as faction leader, sets the rhythm for the self-proclaimed CSU heart chamber. Kreuzer, 63, is valued for many things in the party, for his experience and for his loyalty to the outside world. Not necessarily for his esprit.
The CSU parliamentary group, the heart of the lack of ideas, even in the energy crisis? The crisis is hitting the Free State particularly hard, the fall is higher in an economically strong state than anywhere else. But so far, Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) and the CSU parliamentary group have focused primarily on picking apart the ideas of the federal government. Almost everyone in the party agrees that this may not be enough, also with a view to the 2023 state elections. A few impulses from his own group would not be inconvenient for Söder.
Only Ilse Aigner disturbed the peace a bit
After all, the internal constitution has improved in the CSU parliamentary group. The polls recently saw the party around the 40 percent mark again. It seems that there are quite a few people who like the way the CSU rubs shoulders with the federal government and how it is again emphasizing its conservative core. This is also good for the state parliamentary group, which has sometimes alienated itself with the course of the green center, which party leader Söder has now left again due to lack of success. Or corrected, out of necessity due to the crisis, depending on your point of view.
Only Ilse Aigner has recently disturbed the calm between the parliamentary group and the party leader. In an interview, the President of the State Parliament said that as Energy Minister she had campaigned for the power lines from the north to the south, but that “the facts” did not “get through” in the CSU, not even with the home minister at the time, Söder. Now Bavaria is “more dependent than others on nuclear power plants for electricity and there are bottlenecks in the lines from north to south,” said Aigner as well.
A single disruptive fire, but one that hurts. Aigner is now stylizing the political competition as her key witness. It was only on Monday that the SPD and the Greens again blasphemed that the state government was partly to blame for the energy crisis, but that there were no solutions that could help Bavaria out of it. Then there was this message from Lower Saxony: Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) announced his own relief package for his state, almost one billion euros. The package is to be financed from tax revenues, which were also higher than expected due to inflation.
Is the state government now under pressure? A Bavarian relief package that many in the CSU parliamentary group would find too expensive after the costly Corona crisis and after Söder distributed expensive gifts in the 2018 state election campaign: family allowance, state care allowance, building child allowance. “People want the state to work,” says a member of the CSU parliamentary group. However, the same member would not be surprised if Söder were to get his wallet out again, there will soon be a state election, as is the case with Lower Saxony, who will vote in three weeks.
Kreuzer wants to cap gas prices
“If things get really difficult overall, we’ll think about what we can contribute as a country,” says parliamentary group leader Kreuzer, who also doesn’t believe in spreading aid widely. Instead, he speaks of subsidies “for small and medium-sized businesses” when he stands in front of the reporters again in Banz on Tuesday afternoon, this time to officially open the exam. And this time under stucco and chandeliers because it’s raining outside. Next to Kreuzer is one of several guests from the CSU in the Banz monastery: Hans Peter Wollseifer, President of the Central Association of German Crafts and Trades, who calls for “very quick help”, otherwise many companies will soon “no longer exist”. Who should pay the aid, federal or state, and to what extent, that is secondary for Wollseifer, “for us it is important what arrives below”.
Kreuzer set the focus of the exam as follows: rural areas, security, energy. In a resolution, the CSU parliamentary group demands that petrol prices be reduced through “regulatory measures”. Kreuzer speaks of “government intervention” and the term “upper limit” is mentioned. Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) already brought up a price limit for gas stations and mineral oil companies on Monday. What the resolution also contains: low energy taxes and relief for private individuals and business, all demands in the direction of Berlin. There is still some time to develop your own concepts, the exam lasts until Thursday.
Once again, Markus Söder, whose keynote speech is scheduled for Wednesday, should get the most attention. The party leader determines the rhythm of the CSU parliamentary group even more than Kreuzer. There it says that Söder has thought about the problems in Bavarian schools – and could present his ideas in Banz.