Black-green: How Merz and Söder suddenly fall apart – a comment

There is actually no reason for the Union to resort to major activism these days. It probably wouldn’t even be noticeable if Merz and Co. made themselves comfortable, put their feet up, grabbed salty snacks and were entertained by the declining federal government. The red-green-yellow alliance has been working so diligently for months to get him voted out that their opponents basically have to do nothing other than let the government carry on undisturbed.

But what are the CDU and CSU doing? Nothing like that. They are having an adventurous argument in public about the question of whether one should govern with the Greens or not. It wouldn’t be as wild if the fight was smoldering somewhere in the depths of the party, but it is being cultivated by the two chairmen themselves: Friedrich Merz and Markus Söder.

Söder considers the Greens to be political waste, Merz sees them as a potential alliance partner. The CSU boss sounds like this: “We as the CSU, we don’t want any Greens in the next federal government, no black-green!” With Merz it sounds like this: “We will do a damn thing to close off all options and thus take away any room for maneuver.” By the way, both sentences are not archive finds. They have just arrived – from the two’s appearances on political Ash Wednesday.

The Union is more unstable than it appears at first glance

You could downplay the argument now, but what the heck, there are bigger problems. And a bit of debate is good for the CDU and CSU; Who needs a lethargic popular party? In truth, the conflict reveals how easily the Union can throw itself out of balance, and how quickly the very men who, as we all know, still need to sort something out between themselves: the candidacy for chancellor, come to blows.

Both fail in this argument. Söder believes that the Greens are so unpopular in the country that anyone who declares them an enemy automatically wins. It may be that Robert Habeck and his troops are scaring off some of the Germans. But it shouldn’t have escaped Söder’s attention that the Greens appear to be surviving the traffic light disaster relatively unscathed, as the re-election in Berlin just showed.

Söder’s course is also nonsense because he is maneuvering the Union into the dead end in which he himself is currently stuck. Only because he categorically ruled out an alliance with the Greens before the Bavarian election did he have to enter into a coalition again with the Free Voters under Hubert Aiwanger. You can see how things are going every day in Bavaria.

CDU leader Merz’s newsletter mistake

And Merz? He is right when he thinks that the Union should be given the widest possible strategic scope. But why he initiated the debate himself remains a secret. You can try it out, you can also convey to the CSU that it is not them who make the important decisions, but their big sister party. But maybe this shouldn’t happen in a completely unexpected way in a newsletter to members.

Anyone who makes such mistakes should not be surprised that Markus Söder has still not given up his dream of running for chancellor.

The two want to decide on their candidacy for chancellor in late summer. This can be even more cheerful. If things go badly, the others will soon put their feet up. And let the Union entertain you – with salty snacks.