Two and a half dark years lie behind the CSU. Ironically, the party that owes much of its success to the beer tent had to deal with streaming appearances, team conferences and other aseptic means of communication. The low point was marked by the first virtual political Ash Wednesday in 2021, when party leader Markus Söder sat down in the studio with a snack plate and pretzel basket to read his speech there. You can just as well look at a photo of a mass of beer for two and a half hours – you still don’t get a rush from it.
Last weekend, Bavaria’s CSU finance minister Albert Füracker opened the Gäubodenfest in Straubing – complete with real listeners, real beer and the Bavarian national anthem at the end. For the weaned audience in the marquee, it was an opportunity to reacquaint themselves with a classic CSU speech. It has always followed the fixed scheme, according to which there are those on the one hand who are supposed to be ranting and sneaking away. And on the other hand there is the CSU, which stands in the middle of society, has deep roots in the Christian-Occidental foundation of values, and just knows its way around. Füracker said, for example: “We don’t need to be lectured by those who believe that economic development can only take place in the cities, and that they should only get the crumbs out in the country. We won’t let them irritate us.”
Leaving the facts aside, Füracker proved that he is one of the few politicians in the CSU who are suitable for beer tents. In addition to Agriculture Minister Michaela Kaniber, Peter Gauweiler is also allowed to wear this seal of approval, although he now tends to live in the outskirts of the party.
There was also one in the audience in Straubing who considers himself a great people’s tribune: Bavaria’s Vice Prime Minister and Free Voters boss Hubert Aiwanger. He wasn’t allowed to say a syllable on this day of celebration and had to listen to Füracker courting favor with the “rural area,” for which Aiwanger considers himself the most important lobbyist. In any case, the CSU will rush from one marquee to the next until next year’s elections and belt out the Bavarian national anthem in the hope that everything will be halfway back to how it used to be.