The Swabian CSU politician and former Bavarian Economics Minister Franz Josef Pschierer wants to switch to the FDP.

This was announced on Wednesday from several parties represented in the state parliament.

The personnel was not officially confirmed at first.

However, the FDP invited at short notice to a press conference with its chairman Martin Hagen for the afternoon.

From the CSU it was said at noon that Pschierer had already left the parliamentary group.

The short declaration of resignation was received there on Wednesday.

Timo Frasch

Political correspondent in Munich.

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Pschierer has been a member of the state parliament for the CSU since 1994, and was a member of the cabinet for ten years.

From 2008 to 2013 he was State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, then in the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) finally made him Minister of Economics in March 2018 - but he only stayed for eight months: Because the free voters got the Ministry of Economics after the election, Pschierer went away empty-handed.

According to the CSU, he never got over it.

Strained relationship with Söder

It was also speculated there on Wednesday that a possible power struggle for the state parliament candidate in Pschierer's constituency of Kaufbeuren could have been the trigger for his step.

The 66-year-old politician would have had a serious opponent there, it was said.

On the other hand, Pschierer's relationship with Söder has long been considered burdened.

Pschierer, who was also head of the CSU SME Union, did not shy away from public criticism of Söder.

For example, Pschierer was one of the critics of Söder's former Corona course early on - he was often very much on the FDP line here.

Pschierer also disliked Söder's interim focus on environmental and climate protection.

With the new addition, the FDP should hope for additional votes in the state elections in autumn 2023.

In 2018, she narrowly made it into parliament with 5.1 percent.

In surveys it has been five to seven percent in recent months, most recently six percent.

The CSU reacted on Wednesday with sharp criticism of Pschierer's step.

The parliamentary manager of the state parliamentary group, Tobias Reiß, tweeted: "Obviously someone forgot his character in the minister's body ... pathetic."

Fabian Mehring, the parliamentary director of the Free Voters in the state parliament, told the FAZ: "The FDP seems to be grasping at every straw to distract from their federal political failure and stay above the five percent hurdle in Bavaria," he said.

“It remains to be seen whether Franz Pschierer, of all people, who has already been sorted out by the CSU, can make a contribution.

When a politician at the end of his career turns his back on the party to which he owes his entire career, that certainly has a stale aftertaste.”