Three minister jokers for Söder: Blume, Bernreiter, Scharf - what the CSU boss hopes for
Created: 02/24/2022 05:37
By: Mike Schier, Christian Deutschlaender
Minister urgently wanted: Markus Söder is reorganizing his cabinet - and is also relying on external people from Munich, Upper and Lower Bavaria.
Everyone should take care of a mega topic.
Munich – Speed dating for politicians: Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) pushed ahead with his cabinet reshuffle in a series of talks on Tuesday.
It should be a major renovation, one or two external appointments from outside the parliamentary group, the few insiders reported in advance.
Söder wanted to make a decision by 10 a.m. on Wednesday - then he announced the new team.
The changes at a glance.
Markus Blume (47): High-Tech Minister
Markus Blume
: "You can't rely on anything anymore," groaned an author at the
time
Markus Blume was promoted in 2018.
In the past, CSU general secretaries had always been "crass leather speakers", wadlbiters degenerated into caricatures.
And now this: a thoughtful city dweller who philosophizes about social trends and is enthusiastic about high-tech?
The fact that he doesn't conform to the clumsy cliché accompanies Blume, 47, through his time as a general.
From time to time he plays with the contradiction when he poses for a photographer as a former ice dancer.
Sometimes he also fulfills the cliché with verbal attacks on everything that is more left, green, red than the CSU, in other words a lot.
The latter is always on behalf of Markus Söder, to whom Munich is very, very, very loyal.
Markus Blume takes part in a press conference at the party headquarters.
© Sven Hoppe/dpa/archive image
Blume managed to organize many digital formats during the Corona years;
many analogue party conferences do not.
The member of parliament hardly benefited himself.
The profile he has built up over the years has faded, and his popularity among colleagues has suffered, partly because of poor election results.
Nevertheless, he is considered a beacon of hope for the cabinet reshuffle.
Blume should turn the university into a high-tech ministry, stand out again as before with ideas, curiosity, modernity and international contacts.
His successor as General Secretary is Stephan Mayer, former State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
Christian Bernreiter (57): Rural Space Minister
Christian Bernreiter
: In the last ten years there hasn't actually been a cabinet reshuffle in which Christian Bernreiter hasn't been dealt with.
Alone: he never wanted to.
The 57-year-old, who has been district administrator of Deggendorf for two decades and has been confirmed with results of around 70 percent, is well networked in the CSU through his job as president of the district council.
Bernreiter became known nationwide through the refugee crisis, where Angela Merkel also listened to his word.
Down-to-earth, Bavarian, rhetorically adept – no wonder that Bernreiter was on the list this time too.
And this time was also willing to change.
Bernreiter succeeds Kerstin Schreyer in the Ministry of Construction and Transport.
The party says he could turn it into a “Ministry for Rural Areas”.
That would be important for the 2023 fight for votes against Hubert Aiwanger (FW) in Lower Bavaria.
Advantage of the personnel: The CSU can make a Lower Bavaria exchange without losing face.
The previous university minister, Bernd Sibler, is leaving the cabinet and could run for Bernreiter's post as district administrator.
Christian Bernreiter (CSU) has been traded in every cabinet reshuffle in the last ten years.
© Armin Weigel/dpa/archive image
Ulrike Scharf (54): The new, old minister
Ulrike Scharf
: When Environment Minister Ulrike Scharf was surprisingly knocked out of the cabinet by Markus Söder in autumn 2018, instead of whining around for a long time, she encouraged herself.
"When one door closes, another opens." The woman from Erding remained in the state parliament, even increased her commitment to the CSU and fought for the state presidency of the Women's Union in 2019.
From there, she raised her voice, sometimes in the nationwide media, and campaigned for a more women-friendly, quota-based, modern CSU.
A concern that Söder shares, by the way, that tends to fail because of older party friends and sometimes because of his own parliamentary group.
The prime minister is also impressed that Scharf never retreated into the sulking corner offended.
As Bavarian Environment Minister, Ulrike Scharf (CSU) campaigned for species conservation along the Danube in 2017 (archive photo).
© Armin Weigel/dpa
Now the 54-year-old will succeed Carolina Trautner as Minister for Family Affairs.
Söder is looking for a face for social and family affairs.
According to reports, it was his plan for the young Upper Franconian member of the Bundestag Emmi Zeulner (34) to move to Munich, but this was prevented yesterday afternoon by an intervention by parliamentary group leader Thomas Kreuzer.
In Bavaria, the 2023 state elections are coming up and the CSU can hardly be satisfied with the poll numbers.
