It should be the beginning of a new friendship: After years of strife, the new leaders of the CDU and CSU, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Markus Söder want to bring their parties to a successful cooperation.
Obviously, with a light swat on Kramp-Karrenbauer’s predecessor, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Söder said he was pleased „that the CDU rediscovers its conservative soul“. The CDU is now also federal. Kramp-Karrenbauer also sees the interests of the countries more. Söder spoke at a meeting of the two in Berlin after the dispute in recent years of a „new phase“ in cooperation. The commonality will make the Union stronger.
Söder and Kramp-Karrenbauer plan to set up CDU and CSU as a broader people’s party: conservative, liberal and also social. Although it will continue to give different positions. But both parties have to move in order to succeed together.
The Bavarian Prime Minister Söder had been elected as a CSU leader a week and a half ago to succeed Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer. Kramp-Karrenbauer had prevailed in early December just against the former Union faction leader Friedrich Merz. Kramp-Karrenbauer announced that they wanted to revive the regular conference conferences between the party leaders in Munich and Berlin. And for the next meeting she wanted to come to the CSU headquarters in Munich.
Security and economy as priorities
Kramp-Karrenbauer called security and economy as priorities of the parties for the near future. In the economy, it is important to maintain the momentum of recent years, which has led to good growth. Söder emphasized that in recent years, the economy has played no role because of the continued growth. That changes now. He mentioned, among other things, the tax policy. In this context, he warned in the direction of Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD), with the reform of property tax no longer introduce red tape. In addition, the reform should not lead to higher rents.
