With a beer tent speech shortly before the Union parliamentary group meeting, CSU leader Söder heated up the debate about the K question. While CDU leader Merz tight-lippedly referred to an agreement between the two, Bavaria’s Prime Minister could hardly conceal who he considers the best candidate.
At the start of the Union’s parliamentary group meeting in Neuhardenberg, CSU leader Markus Söder once again made clear his ambitions to become a candidate for chancellor. When asked about his recent comments at the Gillamoos Festival in Abensberg, the Bavarian Prime Minister referred to current surveys on ZDF’s “heute journal”. “You know, I get questions from many parts of the population in Germany,” said Söder. “The idea is not so bad or so absurd that one could consider that we have several good candidates,” said the CSU leader, referring to the latest figures from ARD’s “Deutschlandtrends”.
Currently, 41 percent of those surveyed believe that Söder is a good candidate for chancellor for the Union, three percent more than in August. NRW’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst is still well ahead of CDU leader Friedrich Merz, who only has 23 percent, with 33 percent. The CSU leader is also ahead in the favor of Union supporters: 57 percent think he is a good candidate. Merz has 48 percent here, Wüst only 43. In the last RTL/ntv trend barometer, however, the numbers looked different: overall, Wüst is ahead of Söder with 31 percent, and Merz with 23 percent. There is no clear favorite among Union supporters; all candidates have a good 30 percent.
In the end, the CDU decides
Söder said on Monday in a marquee speech that he would “not shirk responsibility for our country,” and then pointed out the party-political realities: a CSU politician only has a chance of becoming a candidate for chancellor if the CDU asks him to. His statement caused some irritation, as the Union wanted to negotiate the K question quietly over the next few weeks. Merz is trying to avoid a public discussion. “This agreement that Markus Söder and I made two and a half years ago is still valid,” he said in Neuhardenberg. The decision will be made “in late summer.”
And Söder? He tried to correct the impression of an overly assertive demeanor on ZDF. In Gillamoos he only explained that one of the two could be considered. “That could possibly be me, but also Friedrich Merz, who of course could do the same,” said the CSU leader. “In the end, of course, the CDU has the decisive role in this.”
Söder tried to allay concerns about possible interference if he doesn’t get the job: In 2021, the Union ran with the wrong candidate, he said, referring to Armin Laschet, who failed at the time. But now there are “two, maybe even three, very good candidates that the Union could have,” said Söder, again with a view to “acceptance by the population.” The key goal is to replace the traffic light coalition. He is ready to do this, as “prime minister or as candidate for chancellor.”
