Söder's withdrawal: "He's just too happy to be number one"

»The die has been cast.

Armin Laschet is candidate for chancellor of the Union. "

“I would like to thank the many courageous MPs who, contrary to normal party solidarity, have said very openly what they value.

I would also like to thank almost all of the Prime Ministers who have shown their support in the last few days and especially to the unbelievable number of citizens of our country. "

“Well, that's what you should think.

Armin Laschet yesterday in the federal executive committee decided the vote relatively clearly for himself.

And Söder now clearly states that he wants to accept this result.

The only thing that could theoretically happen now would be a kind of uprising at the grassroots level.

Or maybe in the parliamentary group, which is also meeting today and where there are a lot of Söder fans.

But you can't really imagine that that would change anything in the situation.

And it just looks like it: Armin Laschet is the Union's candidate for chancellor. "

»These are of course very poor starting conditions for Armin Laschet. Just imagine: The CDU only made the man its boss three months ago and with the clear stipulation that Laschet would then also be candidate for chancellor. But in the last few days and weeks, large parts of the party have also distanced themselves from him, basically saying in no uncertain terms: Armin, you are the wrong person. And they were state associations, they were parliamentary groups, members of the Bundestag, they were board members, the Junge Union. Of course, something gets stuck and that is a loss of authority. And even if everyone is now gathering behind Laschet in a publicly effective way, one thing is clear: Laschet is going into the election campaign badly damaged. "

“I think Söder would have been better.

Simply by the wide acceptance. ”

“ I don't think Laschet can do it.

To become Federal Chancellor. "

" Even if he is controversial, I would say that Söder would have been better for Germany too. "

“There are still a few months until the general election, a lot can still happen there, and a lot can happen in the pandemic.

But of course it will be incredibly difficult for Laschet to create any kind of optimistic mood now.

Because the Union is simply in a bad position overall.

She hasn't really digested the mask affair either.

The corruption affair. "

»Of course, that wasn't advertising for the Union at all.

The Greens have shown how it can be done differently.

With almost military discipline, they have, so to speak, negotiated their candidacy among themselves in a quiet little room.

And recently there was almost historical chaos at the Union.

The past few weeks have also clearly shown how hardened the fronts actually are in the Union.

There are very different ideas about what the party should actually look like in the future.

And those are conflicts that run deep.

And the big task for Laschet will now be to unite the party here too. "

»We don't want a split.

We want a closed community.

I called Armin Laschet and congratulated him, I also told him that we as the CSU are now accepting, and we will support him with all our strength without resentment, I can do that for myself personally, but I also believe for our CSU, say."

»He will now have to be measured against this. But of course you can't really imagine with someone like Söder that he will now accompany Laschet's candidacy completely silently. He's just too happy to be number one and you could see that very clearly in his statement today. And there are also points of friction, also in the future between the two, between Söder and Laschet, also in their function as prime ministers, in the corona policy, for example. So I think you can still count on one or the other tip and nastiness from Munich in the future. "