Söder’s secret weapon: Does the CSU boss Michaela Kaniber send to Berlin?

Her career as a minister started with this sentence:

Michaela Kaniber tells about her phone call with Markus Söder (CSU) when she was lifted into the cabinet of the Bavarian Prime Minister in 2018. At that time she became Minister of State for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Tourism. Now she could get a call from Söder again soon.

Söder had actually categorically excluded her candidacy for a Federal Ministry. A few months ago, he emphasized that the CSU ministers in Bavaria were bound and were not available for the federal government. But plans are not always compatible with reality: his project to make Bavaria’s farmers’ president Günther Felßner the Federal Minister of Agriculture went wrong. Felßner after criticism of his climate -damaging agricultural policy became loud and he complained by animal welfare activists against his family. Since then, Kaniber has been the focus as a replacement – in Union circles it is already considered to be set.

The black and red negotiations are not even completed. One wants to talk about personal details with a coalition agreement, it is said. After all, it is about content. But Söder had already broken this rule in November when-before the parties had even started the election campaign-he spoke about a CSU Agriculture Minister.

Until recently, Kaniber was only known in Bavaria. Now she could be the new face of the CSU in Berlin. It would be a considerable rise to the first row of top policy, which could also change the balance of power within Söder’s party. The Federal Ministry is important for the party. With around 100,000 farms and is the Free State of Agrarland number one in Germany. The fact that the CSU is in the cabinet and does not get the Ministry of Agriculture is not an option for Söder. Who is the woman who could bring Söder into play as a miracle weapon for Berlin?

Born in Bad Reichenhall in 1977, the middle of three children of Yugoslav guest workers. She grows up in her parents’ inn and works there while she as a tax clerk does her training. At the age of 21 she married the police Thomas Kaniber. Today they live in Bavarian Gmain and have three daughters.

Caniber finds her way into politics early. In 2005 she began to get involved in the local association of the CSU in Bavarian Gmain, in 2011 she became chair. In 2013 she moved into the Bavarian state parliament as a direct candidate in the Berchtesgadener Land. .

But as reluctant to refer to as a quota woman-the scramble about the occupation of a black and red cabinet is also about the gender issue. The prospective Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) has a women’s problem, not too many Christian democrats for a job in the government team. Söder of all people could now help him to reach parity in the cabinet at least.

Söder should not only have an eye on the post of the Minister of Agriculture because of her gender. Unlike Merz, the CSU boss does not lack suitable women. Dorothee Bär, for example, wants to see Söder at the cabinet table in Berlin.

Kaniber is a passionate Minister of Agriculture. In the CSU they are called “Farmer whisper”. She has successfully managed some peasant protests and has achieved what Christian Lindner (FDP) could never achieve: to win the respect of the protesting farmers.

Caniber is also considered a loyal Söder supporter. After the CSU achieved a historically bad result in the 2017 Bundestag election in 2017, it was one of the first within the party that Horst Seehofer made up as those responsible and talked out for a fresh start under Söder. Having them as a reinforcement in Berlin could be comfortable for Söder. And Caniber would catapult it directly into the ranks of the potential Söder successors.

Another episode from Kaniber’s term in office is also remembered in Bavaria. After a serious car accident in 2022, the CSU politician had taken a break for a long time. A 22-year-old driver from Austria got into oncoming traffic for unexplained reasons. An oncoming 58-year-old driver gave away, skidding and collided with the minister’s company car.

Kaniber suffered serious injuries: a broken sternum and a “hard -loaded coccyx”as the minister explained at the time. When she returned to the political business in January 2023, she explained that she wanted to reduce the timing. She wondered “Whether it can be right that we sometimes cover over 1000 kilometers across Bavaria in the car to make appointments”. In the party, their handling of the accident is considered “dignified”.

Michaela Kaniber has repeatedly redefined her political role in recent years – sometimes as a Söder’s loyal supporter, sometimes as a minister who has made agriculture in Bavaria her trademark. This is also why she should now be traded as Federal Minister. The question is still open whether it really has the assertiveness and foresight that would be necessary for a ministerial office in Berlin. Or whether she would only be a convenient choice for Söder who is looking for a loyal ally to represent the CSU in the capital.