Before the 2023 state elections: What Berlin means for Hesse

Nothing.

This is the answer to the question of what the performance of the Hessian candidates in the new elections for the CDU national executive committee means for the current debate in Wiesbaden.

It is still unclear who will lead the Union as the top candidate in the next state election.

The party is currently complaining about the discussion.

But it will be a political eternity until the autumn of next year.

And not only the CDU, but also the SPD is facing a difficult personnel decision.

The promotion of faction and party leader Nancy Faeser could be a great opportunity.

As interior minister, SPD politician Faeser's chances of being elected head of government in Hesse will only increase significantly under one condition: if she really proves to be a heavyweight in Berlin.

However, it doesn't look like that at the moment.

Chance of the SPD is also their risk

For example, Faeser's demand that a "coalition of the willing" should take the lead in taking in refugees in Europe is completely useless. That's good. But the strange move also gives rise to speculation about who might lead the party into the election battle if Faeser were to fail at the national level. She wants to keep the party chairmanship in Hesse. The new 65-year-old chairman, Günter Rudolph, guarantees that no other beacon of hope will be able to establish himself at the head of the parliamentary group. So the opportunity for the SPD is also its risk.

But not only the candidate question, but also the general political climate will be important for the state elections in autumn next year. According to all experience, the mood pendulum after federal elections in the federal states often swings in the opposite direction. The Berlin coalition agreements on climate policy suggest that it could also affect the Greens in Hesse. Great hopes are attached to the designation of two percent of the country's area for wind energy.

This goal was formulated ten years ago at a cross-party energy summit in Wiesbaden, at a time when the Greens were still in opposition.

To date, the method has not brought the desired success.

It is not clear why things should be better at the national level – on the contrary.

The difficulties that became apparent after the start of the traffic light coalition in Berlin could shape the mood in which the Hessian state elections will take place in a year and a half.