Munich, March 4th. In the dispute over the minimum age for the office of Bavarian Prime Minister, a compromise is emerging in the state parliament. The age limit of 40 years is to be removed from the constitution, but not without replacement: each parliamentary group may name a new minimum requirement. “Team arbitrariness has prevailed,” said incumbent Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU).
The Free Voters therefore want to stipulate in the constitution of the Free State that a future prime minister must have at least forty years of practical experience in keeping dairy cattle and breeding sows. Alternatively, according to the newly drafted Article 44, a younger applicant can also prove that he/she was personally involved in at least 3,600 calf births. “We deliberately keep it low-threshold,” said FW boss Hubert Aiwanger. “The highest office in the country must continue to be open to particularly hard-working city dwellers.”
The SPD wants to stipulate in the constitution that a future head of government must have filed at least five criminal charges against political opponents or innocent third parties over a period of ten years. “A criminal complaint can be replaced by three demands for his resignation or five Nazi allegations,” explained SPD parliamentary group leader Florian von Brunn. Meanwhile, the FDP is demanding proof that a Prime Minister must have been “on record at least twice as an adult through his participation in illegal New Year’s Eve fireworks”. “In the state chancellery there will be a lot of banging,” said FDP leader Martin Hagen.
Surprisingly, the Greens have not yet been able to agree on a new minimum requirement. This requires the unanimity of the two faction leaders Katharina Schulze and Ludwig Hartmann. By late Friday evening, around three dozen ballots had failed because one of the two ballot papers always contained the phrase “A certain level of maturity would not be bad.” Prime Minister Söder addressed the Bavarian people from the basement of the State Chancellery on Friday night. “In order to maintain democratic stability,” said Söder, he would remain in office by general decree “until a successor really fulfills each and every one of these important requirements.”