For a long time, Söder left the public puzzled as to whether he was really determined to reach for the Union's top candidate.
This has changed now.
A comment.
Munich - In the Union, the months of backroom blasphemies, hidden fouls and false harmony on display are over.
CSU boss Markus Söder openly reaches for the candidacy for chancellor - more head-to-head than with the publicly presented accusation that he thinks it is "strange" that the CDU chairman is arguing with the CDU chancellor half a year before the election, if the Franconian had the battle against the rival Armin Laschet cannot open.
A face-saving retreat behind the safe Bavarian lines can now hardly be undertaken.
One of the bitterest power struggles in the eventful history of the Union is thus heading for a decision soon after Easter.
In its doggedness, the duel between Laschet and Söder is reminiscent of 1979, when Franz Josef Strauss fought for the candidacy with Helmut Kohl and Ernst Albrecht.
The result can be seen in the history books: The Bavarian won, was candidate for chancellor, but not chancellor.
This time too, the risk is high that no matter who wins the top candidate, you end up losing power in Berlin.
Duel for the candidate for chancellor: Laschet and Söder could hardly be more different
Because the Union's insoluble problem is that it has not literally been a “Union” for a long time.
In view of the polarization among the people after the failed virus crisis management in Berlin, she is no longer able to unite the bourgeois camp, which had already broken during the asylum crisis, behind her.
Both candidates stand on different sides of the rift that runs through the C-parties.
Laschet advocates relaxation and self-responsibility of the citizens, Söder for decisive state lockdown action.
The Aachener stands for a balanced political style, the Nuremberg one for tight leadership.
Laschet praises the “land of doers”, while the more popular Söder promises to be the doer himself.
Where Laschet still calls for the Union to “get better” in the pandemic, Söder is already having Bavaria's family doctors vaccinated.
But above everything lies the Chancellor's dark shadow: the CSU boss poses as her most loyal follower (“if you want Merkel votes, you have to make Merkel policy”), while his CDU competitor sees himself as an opponent.
Couples therapists know that triangular stories rarely end well.
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A comment by Georg Anastasiadis
© Federico Gambarini / dpa / Marcus sleep
Duel for the candidacy for chancellor: Merkel presents her party with a choice
Merkel herself made sure that it got this far: it was she who let the conflict in the CDU explode on Sunday evening when she attacked her party leader Laschet because of his easing course in front of an audience of millions on TV.
She, who split the country and the party during the asylum crisis, did it a second time, knowing about the dangerous consequences for the stable center of Germany.
As in 2015, the Chancellor does not tolerate any contradiction.
Merkel knows that the verdict on her chancellorship will be rewritten in the virus disaster.
Therefore, at the end of her era, she is forcing her party to make another decision on corona policy.
For her or against her.
The outgoing Chancellor accepts the risk that she will push the CDU, to which she owes everything, into the abyss and that the Greens will soon control the fate of the country.
A comment by Merkur editor-in-chief Georg Anastasiadis
List of rubric lists: © Federico Gambarini / dpa / Marcus Schlaf
