Friday, October 1st, 2021
Ex-CSU boss celebrates his birthday
Stoiber admonishes Armin and Markus
From Volker Petersen
The CSU celebrates its honorary chairman Edmund Stoiber, who recently turned 80 in Munich. Not only Markus Söder is there, but also Armin Laschet. You are emphatically holding back, but the jubilee has a clear message for the two party leaders.
Armin Laschet and Markus Söder in one room, and for the first time since the catastrophic election night last Sunday – that is the promise of a reception in Munich that evening. The chairmen of the CDU and CSU have come to the Hanns Seidel Foundation to give speeches on Edmund Stoiber, the CSU honorary chairman. He turned 80 on Tuesday and is now sitting in the front row. As impressive as the vita of the long-time Bavarian Prime Minister is, of course one would like to see whether there are any signs of the current situation in the Union. Whether Söder taunts again or whether Laschet loses his nerve. But anyone who expected a show will be disappointed.
The CDU chairman even says it explicitly: He doesn’t want to talk about traffic lights and Jamaica today. Laschet doesn’t look too bad either, no thick circles under the eyes, hairstyle and suit fit as always. At the beginning he only says to Stoiber that he would have liked to bring him another present. And Söder says, “addressed to everyone”, that there are no current references when he remembers Stoiber’s failed candidacy for Chancellor in 2002. He lets go of a few swipes anyway, but more on that later. The news of the evening does not come from the two alpha animals, but from Stoiber himself.
When the jubilee arrives at the lectern, nostalgia inevitably arises. He’s gotten older, but he’s still the same Mr. Stoiber from back then. The choppy gestures, the jerky head movements, they’re still there. He still talks like he used to when he dueled with SPD Chancellor Gerhard Schröder or, amusing to this day, raved breakneck about a Transrapid train should drive from the airport to Munich in ten minutes. His message that Friday evening had nothing to do with him, but with current politics.
“It was your wish and that’s why it’s there”
When he follows the greeting from CSU General Secretary Markus Blume, Markus Söder is sitting on his right and next to his wife Karin is Armin Laschet on his left. That had to be the case, of course, when the two chairmen of the sister parties, CDU and CSU, honor a jubilee. But there is also something familiar about it. It seems a bit as if the patriarch is sitting there with the heirs at his side. For Söder it is at least politically correct, because Stoiber was his foster father. He brought the then Junge Union chairman to his side as general secretary. He has less in common with Laschet. But the two are also by you, in Laschet’s later speech there is a great bond.
The presence of the CDU chairman is not a matter of course. “It was your wish,” says Blume when greeting Stoiber, “and that’s why he’s here today.” Apparently the CSU would not have invited Laschet otherwise. Which would not have been surprising in view of the current sub-zero relationship with Söder. Stoiber, however, apparently wanted Laschet to come – the man, of all people, against whom Söder and his loyal followers could never cast their grudge.
That also sounds a little in Söder’s speech. Whereby this, the skilful speaker that he is, makes such casual allusions that you could never pin him down. He says that he first became aware of Stoiber after the 1976 federal election. His parents were appalled that Helmut Kohl had not become Federal Chancellor. At that time the time started when Franz-Josef Strauss “talked relatively clearly about the CDU and CSU”. How fitting that it was precisely the election that was recently discussed more often – because at that time the weaker party, the SPD, still appointed the Chancellor. Laschet is now hoping for something like that too. Despite being defeated, he still wants to forge a coalition. Would Söder’s parents still be appalled about it today? And if CSU superfather Strauss found clear words back then, that must be just as correct for his current successor, Söder. Or?
Appeal to unity
Stoiber speaks freely and first thanks his wife, and it sounds honest when he talks about how grateful he is for his family, his three children and eight grandchildren. But soon he is back in politics and picks up something in his speech that Laschet mentioned: the decision to separate from Wildbad Kreuth in 1976. At that time, the CSU abolished the factional community with the CDU for a short time. The two parties have never been more divided – not even today.
“We are in a special situation, so I don’t want to talk about the present at all,” Stoiber begins in his typical way. “But this special situation means independent of the disputes, and that’s why both party leaders are there because I, you are absolutely right, Armin, I was an ardent supporter of the decision in Kreuth, (…) and I have that, marching separately, in common I have internalized that. But in the later discussion I saw that the decision to take it back was absolutely correct. ”
Stoiber wants to point out that the CDU and CSU are only strong together and starts a plea for popular parties. Only a people’s party can reconcile human tasks such as the climate crisis with other interests. “That is why you all have the responsibility today, you all have the responsibility to hold this idea together, as difficult as it is.” He mentions the crisis of the CDU, which also affects the CSU. “In the end we can only achieve something for this Germany if we work together.”
He underpins this appeal to unity with a story from his student days. When the “Spiegel Affair” broke out in 1962, the then Defense Minister Franz-Josef Strauss, the CSU stood together and even improved its result in the state elections. “You mentioned it, Armin,” says Stoiber. “And you mentioned it too,” he says and nods to Söder. At that time, the CSU had reached its legendary unity. “The CSU unanimously stood behind Strauss and did not allow themselves to be dispersed.” This review also “expresses solidarity”, says Stoiber. “I think we have to take this to heart a little more.”
Then he looks in Laschet’s direction and says: “Another … it goes on and on. And when you look back, 80 years, 40 years of politics, there have been many blows in the neck, but also many other developments.” What can be understood as Laschet’s encouragement – the only question is what for. To the tactical retreat? At the end he says: “I wish us all wise decisions, and it goes on and on, it has to go on, in the strength of the CSU and of course the Union, and you have to make a contribution here to keep the business together.” Now Armin and Markus just have to implement the message. But it should have arrived.