It took less than two hours for Markus Söder to create facts again.
Shortly after the Greens and FDP announced on Wednesday that they wanted to enter into exploratory talks for a traffic light coalition, the CSU chairman spoke up in Munich.
“It has been decided,” said Söder, “de facto” Jamaica had failed.
Now it is a requirement of “self-respect” of the Union not to remain “in a kind of permanent waiting position” and to be a “spare wheel”.
Oliver Georgi
Editor in politics of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
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It was not only remarkable that Söder did not seem shaken by developments in Berlin and that he took the floor even before SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz had even accepted the offer of talks from the Greens and the FDP. But also that it was again he who took over the interpretative sovereignty for the Union, not Armin Laschet. Shortly afterwards, he gave a sign of life from Düsseldorf and declared that the Union would remain ready to talk. But in many places in Bavaria that was only acknowledged with a shake of the head: There you see it again, Armin just doesn't get it. At the CDU, on the other hand, where many Söder blame the election debacle anyway, because he shot Laschet with his continued teasing.Some may have seen his rushing ahead as the final proof of a long-held suspicion: We knew it, Söder never wanted Jamaica and is glad that the matter is settled!
Was that really Söder's plan from the start? To weaken and then also to prevent him from becoming Jamaica Chancellor, out of offended vanity or so that he still gets a chance at some point? At least that's what those in the CDU believe, who are extremely angry with Söder. Stylish, inconsiderate, self-centered - words like this fall when you talk to them about the clubs that Söder Laschet threw between the legs. That Söder suddenly stopped speaking of the Union's claim to leadership the day after the election and thus once again put Laschet under pressure. That he only showed something like support for Laschet at the CSU party conference in mid-September. That his General Secretary Blume stated in an interview with Spiegel shortly before the election that “of course” would be better off with Union with Söder,what drives CDU people to blush with anger today: With such actions, the CSU gave Laschet the rest, they say in the CDU. And in the CSU they answer: What rest?
Söder's brutal approach also angered many in the CSU
It is not as if the CSU did not also criticize Söder's brutal action against the sister party. In contrast to the CDU, you just have to search longer until someone formulates it, loyally-moderate in relative proximity to Nuremberg, more hearty in Upper and Lower Bavaria, where Söder's star shines less. “Söder's taunts against Laschet have terribly angered many at the CSU base. Even if everyone in the party actually believes that he would have been the better candidate for chancellor, "says someone who was once quite important in the CSU. “Nobody here liked this way of dealing with people and the disagreement”, criticized the CSU state parliament member Klaus Stöttner from Rosenheim, who is one of the few who openly express what many think about Söder. “That was unwise, unnecessary and harmed us.“Especially among strictly conservative voters, it is said in the CSU, Söders“ successors ”caused anger. Many also do not believe that Söder knew nothing about Blume's quote from Spiegel or at least the thrust of the interview. "Such shots are not made without Söder's knowledge," says a formerly influential party member. Others also think that nothing really works in the CSU without Söder's approval.