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On September 27, the SPD presented the party’s election winners with bouquets of flowers: Olaf Scholz for the Germany-wide victory, Franziska Giffey for the victory in Berlin and Manuela Schwesig for the victory in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The party also thanked its volunteer supporters. In all of these laudatory speeches, a special helper deserves a name: the conservative Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder.
Those of us who reported from Berlin on the German election campaign were often stunned by the deceit with which Söder repeatedly damaged the prospects of the conservative CDU / CSU and led many to at least partially blame him for the loss of the conservatives.
After Armin Laschet had conquered the top position within the CDU in early 2021, the party was well over 30%. After Söder’s unsuccessful application as Conservative candidate for chancellor, the party fell below 25%, whereupon he promptly withdrew from the race, leaving an injured Laschet behind to pick up the broken pieces.
The precedent was set, and there was regular interference from Munich in the months to come.
When the EPP met in Berlin to strengthen a fidgety Laschet, CSU General Secretary Markus Blume loudly announced “with Markus Söder we would of course be better positionedâ€.
After the conservatives were defeated in the elections, Söder torpedoed the party’s last hope of forming a government and led a coalition from second place, as had happened twice in German history alongside the liberal FDP and the Greens.
Söder made sure this wouldn’t happen by telling everyone who listened that the Conservatives had no mandate to be in government. “Without the constant harassment of the CSU against Armin Laschet, we could start exploratory talks tomorrow,” said the domestic policy spokesman for the FDP.
And that was the nail in the coffin of Laschet’s political career when the CDU then decided to dismantle its leadership team.
The question remains whether Bayern’s behavior will have any consequences? There are already some signs, such as MEP Dennis Radtke, that the CSU and Söder are responsible for the “current war in heavenâ€.
The other question on people’s minds is why. What made Söder decide to actively fight his party’s chances of being elected?
The first explanation that comes to mind is petty vengeance. Wasn’t it the CSU man Manfred Weber, who was dropped like a hot potato by CDU-CDU Angela Merkel against the slightest resistance and ended his hopes for the office of EU Commission President as the top candidate of the largest party?
Another explanation is that Söder simply miscalculated when applying for candidate for chancellor and then tried to make the most of the decline in the polls and only support Laschet with the bare minimum.
Finally, the most insidious explanation: Söder knew exactly what his actions would achieve, and it was designed to push the conservatives into the opposition.
Since he will soon have elections in Bavaria in 2023, he could present his party as the guardian of Bavarian interests in Berlin and thus try to win the election. And should he win convincingly, he would create a strong basis for the push to become the conservative candidate for chancellor in 2025.
Either way, it can be assumed that Söder is currently not the most popular person in the Konrad-Adenauer-Haus.
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The abstract
Sellout, betrayal, sacrifice. These are common views in Northern Ireland as issues continue to arise with Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol. Many Northern Irish feel at the mercy of the EU and Great Britain, while at the same time feeling that their “Britishness†has been robbed.
The European legislator criticized the decision of the European Commission to attend the controversial study on the effects of Farm to Fork for six months and called it a “sneaky” move intended to conceal its content. Documents checked by EURACTIV last week showed that the report, which was only published in mid-August, was indeed ready for publication in January.
As the gas crisis drags on, EU leaders have committed to “Ensure sufficient supply of Ukraine with natural gas through the winter. The Ukrainian leadership claims Moscow is trying to use gas supplies as a weapon against Europe.
Against the background of the crisis, the EU environment ministers widely criticized the Commission’s plan to introduce a separate carbon market for road traffic and the construction sector. “We are already witnessing a very worrying situation regarding rising energy prices and the Commission’s proposals could make the situation considerably worse,” said the Polish Environment Minister.
Instead of this, “Nuclear power must be part of the solution” on the climate crisis and the rise in energy prices, according to a group of 10 EU countries, led by France and Poland, who on Monday signed a joint opinion article that was published in major European newspapers. The Commission is widely expected to propose nuclear energy as a ‘green’ or ‘transition’ technology as part of its new taxonomy for sustainable finance.
EU leaders are also examining the potential benefits of EU countries buy natural gas together to create a strategic (and voluntary) reserve. The Commission’s energy ‘toolbox’, which provides Member States with solutions to tackle the gas crisis, is launched this week.
In addition, two dozen countries announced their commitment to the EU-US global methane pledge on Monday, just weeks before the COP 26 summit in Glasgow. “If you don’t bother with it [the climate crisis] it will be too late in the next decade, â€said Japan’s climate commissioner.
In other news: the Commission set up an expert group on disinformation and digital literacy to develop common guidelines for educators to combat the former and train citizens in the latter. The initiative is part of the Commission’s Digital Education Action Plan, which started this year, and seeks to address the two challenges of transition to the digital age and the post-pandemic world.
And Europol is well on the way to getting a stronger, broader mandate, which legitimizes data processing practices that have sparked controversy over the past year. “Digital is the new reality. The Europol mandate had to be updated to address these challenges that threaten the security of Europeans, â€said a senior MEP.
A majority of EU countries have rejected the commitment to a tight timetable for an agreement on two key digital pieces of legislation ahead of the French parliamentary elections and the EU presidency. France was supported by the current Slovenian EU Council Presidency, Spain and Portugal, however, the timetable for the opposing member states was too strict and not very realistic.
Watch out for…
- The hybrid session for the plenary session of Parliament will continue on Wednesday.
- Commission officials attend the annual meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC
Views are those of the author
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
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