Press
Differences between Markus Söder and CSU top candidate Manfred Weber are becoming increasingly obvious. Not a good situation so close to the EU elections.
Munich – There are small, at first glance, minor quibbles that are remembered from the CSU party conference at the end of April. That Markus Söder and Manfred Weber don’t walk shoulder to shoulder into the hall. That they don’t stand on stage in pairs after the speech. That the hall management quickly continued with the program amidst the applause for Weber. Everyone in the CSU knows about the rivalry between the two. In the weeks before the European elections, however, it threatens to break out completely. It crunches unmistakably.
The top candidate (51) and the party leader (57) – the difficult relationship goes back to the JU days, when Weber took over the chairmanship from Söder in 2003. They are too different as types. Here’s the sober, somewhat colorless one Factual politician who is unknown to many even after decades in politics is. There is the eloquent power politician who explores all photo options before every appointment. As long as Weber was responsible for Europe and Söder took care of the state parliament and Laschet, they stayed out of each other’s way.
Weber versus Söder: Differences with China, Nord Stream 2 and Giorgia Meloni
But now Bavaria is too small for the Prime Minister. Fundamental differences have recently become clear in China policy: Weber called the Middle Kingdom a “threat to European security”. On his most recent trip, Söder was pleased that Bavaria was being treated in Beijing “like an independent state”. There were also panda photos. There are always different perceptions in foreign policy: Weber wanted to stop Nord Stream 2 in 2019. A few weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Söder was still insisting that the gas pipeline had to come.
It’s not a dispute that escalates publicly. Hardly a bad word is said. But beyond the microphones there is a huge rumble. Just like on Monday in the party executive committee. Söder skips an announced press appearance with Weber and only sends his general secretary. Apparently people want to avoid critical questions about each other. Listeners report some peaks in the internal meeting. Söder reports on his conversation with Giorgia Meloni. He himself first publicly criticized the election of the Italian head of government. After the meeting, however, he is now very impressed. The matter of inclusion in Weber’s EVP was “off the table”; Meloni was quoted as saying that he found the discussion “unfortunate” at the time.
Before the EU elections, Weber and Söder disagree about where the demarcation runs to the right
A clear tip against Weber. He speaks completely differently: The firewall is to the right. But he will work in parliament with those who “stand constructively at our side”. The goal must be a majority without the Greens. To do this, he will bind “sensible conservatives” more closely to the EPP. It may be that the votes of Meloni’s “Brothers of Italy” are needed to get Ursula von der Leyen back as Commission President. The EU refugee deal was only secured by Italy. Weber was not uninvolved in this.
The atmospheric disturbance becomes even clearer in the meeting when it comes to the topic of the end of combustion engines in 2035. Both want to overturn the ban planned by the EU in Brussels; Söder is repeatedly reminded of an earlier position that was clearly in favor of a ban. Weber makes the pointed remark that he has always been against it, “not just today, when it is well received.”
There are still four weeks until the election. A long time to stage a harmonious election campaign.
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