CSU boss Markus Söder tried to emphasize how large his party's personnel reservoir and the willingness of his people is when he presented his new general secretary Martin Huber on Friday.

"Everyone" in the cabinet would have been willing to take on the vacant office - that may not have been a very serious statement, for example with regard to the veteran Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann.

Timo Frasch

Political correspondent in Munich.

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Even if at least one cabinet member was considered a possible or even charming option, namely Minister of Agriculture Michaela Kaniber, it was clear that Söder would shy away from reorganizing his government team (especially since he could soon lose Europe Minister Melanie Huml - she is Lord Mayor- Candidate for Bamberg under discussion).

It was also clear that the resigned Upper Bavarian Stephan Mayer would have to be followed by another Upper Bavarian, one from rural Upper Bavaria, because that's where the CSU of Middle Franconia Söder currently has its biggest image problem.

Like Mayer, Huber comes from Altötting

The member of parliament Martin Huber, 44, who recently became a father, comes from the district of Altötting, like Mayer, and was once his employee.

He's conservative and Catholic enough to pray before dinner and let it rip in the evening.

Party friends describe Huber as a smart, thoughtful person.

There are different views on how above-average his ambition is.

He is not a rumbler, at least compared to what is traditionally expected of a CSU general secretary, and, according to Söder, "simply serious".

The party chairman documented that he had already made a positive impression by entrusting Huber, spokesman for the CSU's environment working group, with the development of a new basic program alongside his parliamentary group colleague Gerhard Hopp.

Huber, who wrote and published a doctoral thesis on the “Influence of the CSU on West German politics” is more likely to play the role of communicator in the duo.

He was able to practice it when he worked in public relations for the CSU state leadership from 2004 to 2007.

According to Söder, the fact that he already knows them from the inside – Huber was also the personal advisor to the then CSU boss Horst Seehofer – also spoke for him.

Söder relies on the “Bayern card”

While in Mayer's case it was at least not an obstacle that he, as a member of the Bundestag, had his main focus of activity in Berlin, Söder said on Friday that they were now "putting on the Bayern card".

The fact that Martin Huber, who has no federal experience, plays and not another young hope, also has to do with the fact that he is apparently as "burning" for the job as Söder says it is necessary.