The "Inside CDU" documentary reveals why Söder declared the Greens his main opponent

teleschau The "Inside CDU" documentary reveals why Söder declared the Greens his main opponent. Jens Szameit • 8 hours • 3 minutes read CSU leader Markus Söder favored the Greens during the election campaign. A five-part documentary series reveals what happened behind the scenes in the CDU during the federal election campaign. The spotlights on CSU party leader Markus Söder – and his very own strategic considerations – are illuminating. For several months, a ZDF camera team accompanied ordinary members of parliament and top CDU personnel during the federal election campaign – beginning on a historic day. On November 6th, Donald Trump was not only elected US President for the second time. On the same day, the traffic light coalition of the SPD, Greens, and FDP collapsed. "I feel a bit of relief that this torture with this government is coming to an end. I don't see it as satisfaction," says Friedrich Merz in the five-part documentary series "Inside CDU." In the film by Steffen Haug and Denise Jacobs, the CDU leader and Chancellor-designate speaks at length. Equally illuminating, however, are the highlights that shine a light on the work of CSU leader Markus Söder "behind the scenes." "Even those who are critical of Merz said: Close your eyes and get on with it!" When the traffic light coalition collapsed, the CDU/CSU parties were polling at well over 30 percent. Merz is seen as the future chancellor. "People seek his proximity; many people want to achieve something; the opposition he encounters is practically zero," states "Zeit" journalist and Merz biographer Miriam Lau in the ZDF documentary. Helene Bubrowski of "Table Media" confirms this impression: "Even those who are critical of Merz have said: Close your eyes and go for it!" As the election campaign gets underway, Veit Medick, head of the politics department at "Stern," recognizes the conservatives' central effort: "They want to go into this election united." This is "one of the lessons from this failed 2021 election campaign," in which Markus Söder exploited the power struggle with Armin Laschet for the chancellor candidacy to the detriment of the sister parties. In "Inside CDU" features a few nice scenes that illustrate Söder's restrained, yet always threatening, potential as an election campaign scoundrel. On the day of Olaf Scholz's government statement, CSU state parliamentary group leader Alexander Dobrindt warns Merz and Söder in the elevator: "The moment we walk through the door into the plenary hall, the cameras are already pointed at you." Söder jokes: "Let's not do a victory sign, shall we?" He hastily reassures Merz, who seems slightly startled: "Well, I'm not making a big deal." Then a nice follow-up that sounds a bit like a threat: "Not today." Söder rejects Wüst's hug: "We don't want to hurt each other." Afterward, sparks fly at the lectern in the plenary hall. RND capital correspondent Alisha Mendgen recalls that it was then that she realized it would be a "shrill, polarizing election campaign" that would strengthen the fringes. The meticulous planning of the CDU campaign became apparent at a meeting at CDU party headquarters in mid-November. Merz reads a statement on the election slogan "Back to the front" from the prompter. Important statements like the one on "preservation of creation" were forgotten. "And there are still typos in the last sentence." Merz seems annoyed and tense: "Guys, hey!" On the sidelines of a podcast recording, Markus Söder later encounters one of his fiercest adversaries in the Christian Democratic sister party, Hendrik Wüst. When the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister-President jokingly offers his Bavarian counterpart a hug, the latter waves it off with a laugh: "We don't want to hurt each other." Political shark behavior wrapped up in jovial jokes. Söder to Linnemann: "...then you know exactly what the challenge is!" The perspective of the ZDF series should also be of interest to another of Söder's archrivals, current Economics Minister Robert Habeck, and the Greens in general. Anyone who has wondered why Söder seems to have been obsessed with Habeck and the Greens – significantly more than with the AfD – will find it explained here. There are clearly strategic reasons behind the much-discussed "Green bashing." Before the podcast is recorded, the ZDF camera captures Söder confidingly whispering to a distracted-looking CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann: "Listen to Weidel, then you'll know exactly what the challenge is!" A recent speech by the AfD leader clearly made a deep impression on the Bavarian Minister-President. He concludes from it: "We're not losing to the SPD and the Greens, we're losing to the AfD!" Weidel made the prospect of a "black-green coalition such a massive issue" in one of her "strongest" speeches. In this light, it becomes even clearer why Söder is so apodictically and publicly opposed to a coalition with the Greens at the federal level.