CSU boss and Prime Minister: The double Söder

The federal government can really use this right now. As if they weren't already under enough fire, one of their own ranks also fired: Markus Söder at the Junge Union's Germany Day.

“Instead of cutting taxes, we have decided to increase taxes,” he shouts to his audience. "Tobacco, alcohol, sugar, everything is becoming more expensive. I'm glad that Diet Coke has just managed to catch up."

The passionate Diet Coke drinker enjoys the role of the ambivalent representative of the people: as CSU party leader, he has a decisive influence on the direction of the coalition and, as CSU Prime Minister, he would like to take a different course.

What sets him apart from all other prime ministers and heads of government is that he sits at the table in Berlin when the political course is set in the coalition committee. So Söder is the personified opposition in the coalition, a commercial representative of Bavarian interests with strong assertiveness.

And yet Söder has fans outside of Bavaria. The Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, CDU, is one of them. "Markus Söder," he said, "is the politician in Germany who gets the most people into a festival tent."

Without a doubt: Söder can do a marquee. He knows what his audience wants to hear, what they want to laugh about. I also like to talk about Söder, who can certainly appear self-ironic. When it comes to others, however, he is often anything but squeamish and also likes to dish out hearty things.

Daniel Günther (CDU), Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein, once invented his own verb for this: “södern”. To paraphrase Günther: putting others in a bad light in order to shine yourself. The head of government from Kiel does not belong to the Söder club. The same applies to Hendrik Wüst, who, as Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, is considered a natural candidate for chancellor.

Söder and Wüst share a power-political rivalry. The fact that Söder brought the bid for the Olympic Games to Munich and Wüst was left behind: a point gain, but nothing more. This may have strengthened Söder's self-confidence. It's not small anyway. Years ago, Söder actually dismissed Wüst when he declared that only two men would bear national responsibility in the Union, namely Friedrich Merz and he: Markus Söder.

It's been a while since Söder spoke like that, but Söder certainly doesn't see it any differently today. What is striking is that he has been acting suspiciously conciliatory lately. Verbal attacks against one's own people have become less common. The AfD and the Left are in Söder's focus.

If one of the two parties leads a state government, Söder no longer wants to transfer money via state financial equalization. With best regards from Bavaria to Saxony-Anhalt and Berlin.

Something has also changed externally at the Bavarian: Söder has been wearing a tie on official occasions for some time and is trying to show a different side: the statesmanlike one.

At the same time, he lets his people in Berlin spread harsh criticism of Chancellor Friedrich Merz behind closed doors. A sign that he, Söder, has not yet given up hope of ruling not just Bavaria, but the entire republic. Even if he always publicly claims the opposite.

However, in 2021 he also insisted like a mantra that his place was in Bavaria. Armin Laschet can lament how that turned out. Söder doesn't want to raise his hand to run for office, he wants to be called. This is considered an open secret. But so far no one is calling.