State election in Bavaria – CSU deals against the Greens in the election campaign – News

For weeks now, the election campaign in Bavaria has been more venomous than ever before. Prime Minister Markus Söder wants to continue to govern with the conservative Free Voters. The two have chosen the Greens as their main opponents. A report.

Being green in Bavaria: For politicians this means having thick skin in the election campaign. Because from the conservative corner of Hubert Aiwanger, leader of the Free Voters, it sounds like this: “They don’t want to save the climate, they want to destroy Germany. That’s the big goal.”

Dear friends, we prefer to eat roast pork instead of insects or maggot cereal. And if you want that, dear green people, you can eat the stuff yourself.

Prime Minister Markus Söder also relies on the mood: “Dear friends, we prefer to eat roast pork instead of insects or maggot cereal. And if you want that, dear green people, you can eat the stuff yourself.”

The controversial issue is wind turbines

Mid-September in Bad Tölz: The Green top candidate Katharina Schulze mingles with the people – her team is smaller than the group of police officers she has to protect. There has never been so much hatred in the election campaign. This is also a result of the propaganda, there is talk of wind power expansion, Bavaria is in a bad position in this regard. “183 new wind turbines approved in North Rhine-Westphalia with Green government participation, four new wind turbines approved in the same period in Bavaria, where black and orange rule,” said Schulze.

For years, the Bavarian government under the leadership of the CSU has blocked it and set the hurdles for wind turbines so high that it has practically made construction impossible.

Partner at community level

Peter Wagner is mayor of the rural community of Aying: “I have always been a conservative-minded person, a landscape and nature lover, but also a Christian person. Preserving creation is very important to me. Then you slip into the CSU.”

The CSU has actually slipped too much to the center for him – but he has nothing against the Greens. «I can only speak from the municipal area. We all have to work together on this.” The party register doesn’t matter. “We have to make sure that we do the best for our community and our region.” And the best thing for his community is a wind turbine. For almost a decade, Aying and the region have been struggling to set up one – one in which citizens can contribute financially.

Legend:

Prime Minister Markus Söder of the CSU (here at an election event on October 8th, 2023) has already made his decision: He wants to continue to govern with the conservative Free Voters.

KEYSTONE/DPA/Peter Kneffel

“We all need energy, it’s really a huge issue,” says Wagner. “Even more since the Ukraine war.” And if you can then produce your own electricity and citizens can feel something in their wallets, then that would be the right way to go.

Söder has now made a 180-degree turnaround: Bavaria should now be climate neutral by 2040 – five years earlier than Germany as a whole. If this is not only to sound like the best in class, but also to be implemented as such, then over 100 wind turbines would have to be built per year. Bavaria is a long way from that.

Headwind from conservationists

Wagner, along with over 400 other Bavarian mayors, called on Söder in a letter to finally move forward.

Aying’s wind turbine should be placed in the forest area on the highway, where it won’t cause any disruption. The biggest headwind comes from outside the community – from conservationists who are suing against wind turbines in many places in Germany.

Things are different in Aying. “Most people are in a positive mood,” says Wagner. “And they ask me every six months: ‘How are things now, when can I deposit the money? When will the wind turbines turn?” He is confident. He expects the green light for the project this month. Things really get going in spring.