When Armin Laschet, presumably months ago, accepted the invitation to speak at the CSU reception for Edmund Stoiber’s 80th birthday, he probably imagined coming as Chancellor-designate. Then he could have bathed in the applause of the CSU and his adversary Markus Söder would have had to clap willy-nilly. They also applauded at the CSU, but it was applause at the limit of politeness that said nothing about the true mood.
As always when the situation is precarious, this is expressed in the talks before the event. When very leading and somewhat less leading CSU people stand together and wait for the guests, in this case for the jubilee Stoiber, who for once comes on time. And Laschet, who arrives at the last minute.
Another low blow for the CDU chairman
Again it is a day with another low blow for Armin Laschet. The news is circulating that Friedrich Merz now wants to try again to become CDU boss, on condition that all members vote on it. the image-The newspaper had reported that. Shouldn’t even someone tell Laschet that it’s over? “What do you think, how many have already told him that,” says one of the very leading CSU people.
In the morning, Markus Söder is said to have slipped out one of those treacherous sentences in the CSU presidium meeting. The upcoming negotiations are still being conducted with Armin Laschet, Söder said there, and the more attentive listeners of course immediately noticed that. Shortly before the start of the event, there is another CDU guest who could perhaps be described as medium-sized with an upward perspective.
You put your heads together. “You have to help,” says the CDU man. Of course, this does not mean helping Laschet to forge a Jamaica coalition. But get rid of him. The CSU does not want to do that under any circumstances, the CDU must do that itself is the unanimous opinion of all CSU people who are asked about it. At the CSU “no blood splatters should get stuck on this issue,” says one.
When Laschet finally arrives, he once again gives a taste of the imperturbability that has long driven his party friends to despair. Whether he still believes in Jamaica, it echoed in various variants from the crowd of photographers. “We’re celebrating Edmund Stoiber,” Laschet replied stoically. And what about Merz’s ambitions? “We have a CDU boss,” he says.
Inside the hall, Laschet and Söder both sit in the first row, but at most separated by the pandemic-related airy seating and the Stoiber couple. Söder, once General Secretary under Stoiber, gave a comprehensive eulogy, peppered with anecdotes. But at Söder you always have to listen carefully. For example, when he blames Wolfgang Schäuble for Stoiber’s 2002 election defeat because he swore the Union to say yes to the Iraq war. “You can see that some people make mistakes again and again,” says Söder. Some of the listeners take a sharp breath.
Laschet then praises Stoiber’s “human size”, how he dealt with the defeat in 2002 and then actually says that this is also his “standard in these days”. You can’t tell whether Söder’s face is twitching at this moment. He is sitting in the front and has his back to the hall.