Savior of Leberkäs? Söder castigates the Greens’ “strategy” when it comes to meat

Animal welfare tax, meat tax: The next battle for lifestyle symbols is looming. Markus Söder is already positioning himself on the topic of Leberkäs.

Munich – For at least ten years, the CSU has liked to present itself as the “party of the Leberkäs floor” – the baked boiled sausage almost belongs on a par with laptops and lederhosen. Most of the time, however, it is just a synonym for Bavarian down-to-earth. Party leader Markus Söder has now taken the Christian Socialists' striking self-claims very literally.

On Friday (February 9th) he called for the liver cheese (along with other traditional meat specialties) to be saved from a planned animal welfare tax from the house of Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens). Attacking the Greens is now part of the CSU's standard repertoire.

Söder's liver cheese worries: CSU boss assumes Özdemir and the Greens have a “strategy”

The background: According to a key issues paper by Özdemir, the traffic light government is considering an “animal welfare cent”. The concept has now been sent from the ministry to the traffic light factions in the Bundestag. The model is the coffee tax. The possible cost implications are not yet known. In 2020, a commission proposed a 40 cent surcharge per kilo of meat. A standard slice of Leberkäs weighs around 100 to 150 grams – in this hypothetical example, that would mean a tax surcharge of 4 to 6 cents.

“An animal welfare tax is nothing more than a tax on meat,” said Söder Picture. He attested that Özdemir's party had an unpopular plan: “Apparently the Greens' strategy is to make meat and sausage so expensive that it is no longer affordable for many normal earners.”

Bavaria's Prime Minister announced resistance rather indirectly – although the decision would initially also be up to the Bundestag. “Our opinion is clear,” emphasized Söder: “Everyone should be able to afford a schnitzel, Leberkäs or a currywurst.” Söder had already spoken in detail in a comedic format in the summer ZDF-Interview presented as an advocate of Leberkäs. The CSU recently expressed itself somewhat more soberly on the subject of animal welfare taxes.

CSU bullies the Greens: Meat combat zone

Like the price of gasoline, heating or parking in inner cities, meat is a symbolically highly charged battleground of opinions and lifestyles. Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and the traffic lights clearly felt this with the heating law. In Bavaria, test runs for parking-free zones in the summer caused some heated controversy. Nationwide, the “neck steak” rather than the Leberkäs is often used as a synonym for the small, comparatively affordable meat delights.

The CSU keeps trying to tackle the Greens on the meat issue. Not everything can always be taken at face value. “Meat ban: slap in the face for our farmers,” the CSU wrote on social networks in June next to a photo of Özdemir. However, the reason was vegetarian menus at ministry events, not legislative plans. CSU sympathizer Uli Hoeneß ranted in October BRÖzdemir wanted to “talk down sausage consumption” – which earned him a gentle rebuke from a fellow panelist.

Özdemir's plans for animal welfare tax are real: farmers are not averse to it, Lindner is putting the brakes on it

The animal welfare tax is, however, a real proposal. The aim is to generate “tax revenue for important, primarily agricultural and food policy projects,” said Özdemir’s paper. “If the currywurst becomes a few cents more expensive, then the fear of a shitstorm is great,” said the minister in the Bundestag in January – apparently in a clear premonition of what was to come. An “animal welfare cent” would be an “investment in the future of agriculture and rural areas in Germany,” emphasized Özdemir.

It is uncertain whether the Greens will even prevail with the plan: once again there is a threat of dispute in the traffic light coalition. There are currently “no plans to introduce a new tax,” said a spokeswoman for Christian Lindner’s (FDP) Finance Ministry.

The situation is quite complex: government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit indicated that income from the tax could benefit the angry farmers. Farmers' Association General Secretary Bernhard Krüsken called the idea an “important building block” for the restructuring of animal husbandry. However, it should not be a replacement for the burdens associated with agricultural diesel. (fn)