The CSU chairman Markus Söder was confirmed in office at the party conference in Munich with 83.6 percent, without any opposing candidates. In what is now his fifth candidacy for party leadership, he achieved his worst result. Two years ago it was still 96.6 percent of the delegate votes – but at that time a state election was imminent, which generally leads to the ranks closing behind the leading figure. This is particularly true at the CSU. Nevertheless, it was hoped at party headquarters that Söder would make it past 90 percent. Seen in this way, the current result is seen as a setback.
Previously, Söder had remained true to his line of the past few weeks and days and acted as the conciliator and bridge builder that he currently sees himself as in the Berlin coalition. In his approximately 75-minute long speech, in which he announced at the beginning that he would “drill deeper” (than usual), the Bavarian Prime Minister did not criticize the Greens once, at least not by name. He also dealt very carefully with his Berlin coalition partner, the SPD. Söder called the leadership of the Social Democrats “very reliable”.
With a view to the recent dispute between Labor Minister Bärbel Bas and the employers – keyword “made-to-measure suits” – he warned his coalition partner that the relationship with them had to “relax again”, but without himself falling into class war rhetoric from above. In the fight against the AfD, he appealed to the solidarity of the “Democrats”, “regardless of which party”. “We must not become stirrup holders, we must not repeat the mistakes of Weimar,” said Söder.
Lots of applause for Dobrindt and Herrmann
Chancellor Friedrich Merz was also pleased to receive support and solidarity addresses from Söder’s mouth. “I think Friedrich Merz is right when he talks about what things look like in our cities,” Söder said at one point. At another, the CSU leader praised his counterpart in the CDU for his presence on the international stage, especially when it comes to the war in Ukraine: “If it weren’t for Friedrich Merz, Europe would have no voice at all.”
What was remarkable, however, was that Söder described supporting Israel as a “reason of state,” just as Angela Merkel once did and as Friedrich Merz no longer does. From the perspective of the main actor, the interior ministers Alexander Dobrindt and Joachim Herrmann might have received a little too much applause after Söder praised their efforts in reducing illegal migration.
Overall, Söder tried to portray the CSU as the people’s party, which made it the myth that it still thrives on today. He highlighted the “C” and also the “S”, although he did not provide any recent evidence on this point other than the mother’s pension. On the contrary, his state government recently abolished family allowances and halved care allowances in view of the declining tax revenues and the financial problems of daycare centers in order to redirect the resulting funds “into the system”.
Söder, who many in the party accuse of not being a team player, also praised his team, apart from CSU vice-president and Söder skeptic Manfred Weber, whom the CSU leader did not blame. The fact that Weber achieved the best result of all deputies – 93.7 percent – probably didn’t please the CSU boss too much. There has recently been no open movement against Söder, not even a clandestine one. Of course, fantasies in this direction exist within the party. With a view to the pension debate, Söder recently announced that he would work “until he drops”. Not everyone in the CSU read this as a promise.
