As of: March 28, 2024, 2:00 p.m
By: Florian Naumann
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Markus Söder's third cabinet in Bavaria is in office. There were a few questions to be clarified with coalition partner Hubert Aiwanger.
1 / 19Markus Söder and his ministers: The “Söder III” cabinet has been in office since autumn 2023. © Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa
2 / 19Markus Söder is Bavaria's Prime Minister - and a well-known face throughout Germany. Speculation about Chancellor's ambitions shows no sign of abating. For now his “place is in Bavaria”. Together with his cabinet. © Dwi Anoraganingrum/Imago
3 / 19 As head of the Free Voters, Hubert Aiwanger is, to a certain extent, Söder's opponent in the “Bayern Coalition” - and in view of controversial statements and the “leaflet affair”, a quite polarizing figure. Aiwanger has been Economics Minister and Deputy Prime Minister since 2018. In the Söder III cabinet he was given new powers in matters of hunting and state forests. © Peter Kneffel/dpa
4 / 19Söder's second deputy is Ulrike Scharf. Söder surprised some observers with this (bonus) post being awarded to the Minister of Social Affairs. Also because he kicked Scharf out of her position as Environment Minister when he took over from Horst Seehofer in 2018. The Upper Bavarian immediately made a name for herself after being appointed Söder's deputy - with a clear warning about anti-Semitism and threats to democracy. © Frank Hoermann/Imago
5 / 19Florian Herrmann, as head of the Bavarian State Chancellery, is an important collaborator and practically Söder's “right-hand man”. The collaboration seems to be working: Herrmann has held the position since 2018. Like Scharf, Herrmann has his political home northeast of Munich, in the Upper Bavaria district. © Imago
6 / 19 Eric Beißwenger has been a member of the state parliament since 2013. His appointment was perhaps Söder's biggest surprise on the CSU side. The organic farmer Beißwenger dealt with the environment and tourism in his first two legislative periods. Now he is concerned with Europe, where, according to Beißwenger, the environment and agriculture are also important there. Living in the Allgäu, Beißweniger represents the Swabian CSU - and actually comes from Mannheim. © Bernd Feil/Imago
7 / 19Another veteran Kempe in Bavaria's cabinet is Joachim Herrmann. The Middle Franconian has been Interior Minister since 2007 – under Günther Beckstein. Herrmann is considered an important voice in the CSU; He was already the head of the state parliamentary group; and was already a member of the state government for the first time in 1998 as State Secretary; in 2008 he was considered a candidate for the office of Bavaria's head of government. However, he lost the position as Deputy Prime Minister to Ulrike Scharf in 2023. © Peter Kneffel/dpa
8 / 19A rather new face in Bavaria's cabinet is Christian Bernreiter - he worked as a district administrator for many years. At the beginning of 2022, Söder appointed the Lower Bavarian Minister for Transport and Construction in a cabinet reshuffle. Since then he has gained further influence in the CSU: Bernreiter has led the Lower Bavaria district association since 2023. He succeeded Andreas Scheuer. © Sven Hoppe/dpa
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9 / 19 Georg Eisenreich has been a member of the Bavarian State Government since 2013: first as Horst Seehofer's State Secretary for Education, Culture, Science and Art; from 2018 briefly as Minister of State for Europe and in the Söder II and III cabinets as Minister of Justice. The content fits well: Eisenreich is a lawyer. He also chairs the CSU Munich district association. © Monika Skolimowska/dpa
10 / 19There was a promotion for Anna Stolz: the Lower Franconian has been State Secretary for Education and Culture since 2018 - she now leads the ministry. Unusual: Stolz is more of a newcomer to the Free Voters. Until 2018, she was the independent mayor of the small town of Arnstein in the Main-Spessart district. She only joined the party in 2018 and made it straight into the state parliament and cabinet. © Frank Hoermann/Imago
11 / 19From the attack department to the high culture department - Markus Söder obviously has a lot of confidence in his namesake Markus Blume. The Munich-based Blume was CSU General Secretary from 2018 to 2022 and was therefore responsible for the harder tones. He has been Minister of State for Science and Art since 2022. The new position could almost suit Blume better. In his youth he was successful as an ice dancer. Blume also studied political science. © Rolf Poss/Imago
12 / 19Albert Füracker is considered Markus Söder's confidant. This may be why he succeeded Söder in his last post before becoming prime minister: Füracker has been Bavaria's finance minister since 2018. He was already Söder's state secretary there. As district leader of the Upper Palatinate CSU, Füracker is also important for regional proportional representation in the cabinet. © Frank Hoermann/Imago
13 / 19Thorsten Glauber is serving as Environment Minister for the Free Voters for the second time - making him one of the best-known representatives of his party. Unlike Stolz, Glauber has been a “free voter” for a long time – the Middle Franconian joined the party in 1993; He has been a member of the state parliament since 2008. As the person responsible for environmental protection, Glauber has to stand up to the Prime Minister from time to time. Not an easy task. © Peter Kneffel/dpa
14 / 19Michaela Kaniber is now one of the most famous faces in the CSU. Since Söder took office in spring 2018, the Upper Bavarian has been in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture, which is important in Bavaria; In 2023, responsibility for tourism followed as a bonus. But Kaniber first had to familiarize himself with the subject of agriculture. According to her own statements, the daughter of parents who immigrated from Croatia and mother of three actually came to politics “through the dispute over the right childcare”. © Armin Weigel/dpa
15 / 19Judith Gerlach had to vacate her post as digital minister, but managed to get promoted straight away: she is health minister in the Söder III cabinet. Gerlach, born in 1985, is the second youngest cabinet member - but also has family influences: his grandfather Paul Gerlach already sat for the CSU in the Bundestag. The lawyer lives near Aschaffenburg and therefore represents Lower Franconia in Söder's cabinet. © Frank Hoermann/Imago
16 / 19The youngest in Söder's ministerial team is Fabian Mehring. It was only in 2018 that the Free Voter entered the state parliament for the first time, but was immediately given a lot of responsibility: he served as parliamentary manager of his parliamentary group; His degree in political science may have helped. At just 34 years old, Mehring became head of a ministry – albeit a very small one. © FrankHoermann/Imago
17 / 19 According to the Bavarian constitution, up to 17 state ministers and state secretaries belong to the state government. That means: three state secretaries are there. One of them has been Sandro Kirchner (CSU) since the beginning of 2022. The Lower Franconian supports Joachim Herrmann in the Ministry of the Interior. © Rolf Poss/Imago
18 / 19New in Söder's cabinet, however, is CSU State Secretary Martin Schöffel from Upper Franconia. He is responsible for finances and homeland. Schöffel previously worked primarily on the subject of agriculture - and is considered a good beer tent speaker. © Frank Hoermann/Imago
19 / 19Tobias Gotthardt is also new. As State Secretary, the Free Voter supports his party leader Hubert Aiwanger in the Ministry of Economic Affairs. In the new cabinet, Aiwanger had to forego another state secretary post - with Stolz's promotion to Minister of Education, her old position remains vacant. © Rolf Poss/Imago
Munich - The cabinet is the heart of every democratic government - and the ministries are always hotly contested. This is particularly true in Bavaria: the long-term ruling CSU party (in power since 1957) conscientiously maintains regional proportional representation. Each of the seven district associations should take part.
Then Markus Söder also has to struggle with new requirements: The CSU has been dependent on a coalition partner since 2018. A rather un-Christian-social feeling: Since 1966, only the Seehofer I cabinet had to accommodate representatives of an alliance partner; at that time it was the FDP.
Söder III Cabinet in Bavaria: Aiwanger demanded more
The Free Voters (FW) around party leader Hubert Aiwanger are now supporting the CSU. And Aiwanger from Lower Bavaria made new demands after the gains in the Bavarian election in 2023. At the same time, Söder actually wants to bring more women and more young people into his cabinet – definitely a tightrope act.
On November 8, 2023, Söder presented his ministerial team to the public. The result: One more FW minister, a few additional competencies for Aiwanger. Both caused certain taunts: Fabian Mehring “only” inherited the
digital ministry for the Free Voters, while Aiwanger received a few swipes from Söder on the day of the cabinet presentation for his preferences when it came to hunting.
Markus Söder's cabinet: Huml goes, Stolz comes - and Beißwenger saves regional proportional representation
Long-time CSU minister Melanie Huml had to take her hat off. The number of women in Söder's cabinet remained constant, although only four out of fourteen. Culture Minister Anna Stolz was new; she replaced the quite prominent predecessor Michael Piazolo (both FW).
And the regional proportion? Söder secured this with another newcomer from his own party: the Swabian Eric Beißwenger replaced Huml as Minister of State for European Affairs - Beißwenger is, in a sense, Söder's "Foreign Minister". Until then, CSU Swabia had represented Klaus Holetschek in the cabinet; As parliamentary group leader in the state parliament, he moved to another lever in the CSU's house power. (
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