Söder urges CDU lawmakers considering AfD backing to quit party

Markus Söder, CSU leader — Source: ARD/Thomas Ernst

In the television program "Caren Miosga," Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder (CSU) suggested that possible CDU defectors in Saxony-Anhalt should leave the party. He called such behavior "pretty shabby."

Pressure on the Federal Government

Following the state elections in eastern Germany and Berlin, the federal government is under considerable pressure. The coalition committee insisted this week that it would stick to its reform plans, though it produced no new resolutions. The government's current economic forecast offers some hope, projecting growth of 1.3 percent for 2026 — driven primarily by exports and state infrastructure investments.

For many companies, however, the situation remains difficult. How can the government emerge from the crisis? Miosga asked Markus Söder, CSU leader and Bavarian Minister-President, on her Sunday evening program. Alongside Söder, guests included Christoph Werner, chairman of the management board of the drugstore chain dm, and Julia Löhr, head of economic policy at the FAZ.

Coalition Tensions

Miosga wondered about the state of this coalition, in which previously agreed measures are so frequently called into question again and again. She wanted to know from the Bavarian Minister-President who was braking the hardest. The CSU leader, however, would not commit to a single person. He pointed to parliamentary procedures, the personal circumstances of individual ministers, and the influence of trade unions. Instead, he advocated for stronger exchange between employers and employee representatives to enable larger reform steps.

Miosga did not let the answer stand. She confronted Söder with the accusation from Union circles that the SPD in particular was blocking progress on care and pensions. CDU/CSU and SPD have different ideas, but the coalition must not lose itself in mutual blame. He warned against holding the coalition together solely out of fear of the AfD. "It would also achieve nothing if a coalition were held together only out of fear of someone," Söder said about the current state of the coalition. The coalition instead needed a common political goal. "We must deliver results."

When asked when there would be a unified pension package, Söder said: "I'm not a fan of all this scheduling." He hopes that the basic outlines of all reforms will be decided in 2026. How far the decisions will reach at cabinet and parliamentary level, he left open.

"I find that pretty shabby"

Saxony-Anhalt and the AfD

Next on the agenda is the election of the Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt in December. "Can you assume that no CDU parliamentarian will vote for Ulrich Siegmund?" Miosga wanted to know. On this question, Söder became noticeably sharper. Anyone who votes differently on such a fundamental question must have the courage to publicly acknowledge it. Söder described such behavior as "pretty shabby." While Söder calls for unity within the coalition, he demands clear consequences for potential defectors in the Union: "I think everyone should have the backbone and the stature to admit when they do something differently, and if they no longer feel comfortable in the Union, then they have to go elsewhere. Whoever votes for the AfD has no future with us."

The AfD in Bavaria is "brutally right-wing"

But how to deal with the AfD overall? Miosga pressed further. For Söder, the AfD is not a "normal party": It is not normal to consider people with disabilities as not normal. It is not normal to view National Socialism as a brief "bird dropping in history." It is not normal to essentially cozy up to Moscow and abandon everything that concerns our values.

Julia Löhr, Markus Söder and Christoph Werner on Caren Miosga — Source: ARD/Thomas Ernst

For Söder, normal political engagement with the party would only become possible if something changed. At the same time, he qualified his position: The so-called firewall must not mean refusing to engage with the AfD's content at all or excluding it wholesale from political debate. "The AfD in Bavaria is brutally right-wing and partly caught up in conspiracy theories that make your head spin." Söder therefore advocates going into close combat and conducting the substantive debate.

When Miosga asked what this means for the economy and what he thought of BMW withdrawing a leasing contract after the election in Saxony-Anhalt that had been arranged for the state parliament president there, Söder remarked laconically: "The AfD doesn't care anyway — they'd rather drive a Lada from Russia." The audience laughed, and Miosga smiled.

Werner Proposes Overhaul of the Political System

The panel then welcomed Christoph Werner, head of the drugstore chain dm, and Julia Löhr, head of economic policy at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

"What would you do first if you were the boss of Germany?" Miosga asked the chairman of dm's management board. "Where do we want to go with this country? I hear no clear visions." He noted the absence of a clear idea of Germany's future. He could not discern from the government leadership where the policy was meant to lead the country.

Miosga contrasted the government's positive growth forecast of 1.3 percent for 2026 with criticism from the business community. "We currently see that a great deal of credit is being taken on, and this creates state demand," Werner said, adding: "The decisive question is: Is what we are seeing at the moment sustainable, or is it something that is only an episode, something that will disappear again?"

The FAZ journalist Julia Löhr joined the discussion: "The question is ultimately already answered in the government's autumn projection," she said, "because for 2028 only 0.6 percent growth is forecast." The journalist could not identify a sustainable growth strategy for an industrial country.

Löhr was also unenthusiastic about the government's renewed fuel rebate: "I was appalled." For her, the fuel rebate is a simple solution based on the watering-can principle, but above all a waste of taxpayer money.

Werner proposed a fundamental overhaul of the political system: six-year legislative periods, a limit on political terms to twelve years, and laws with expiration dates. The chairman of dm's management board pursues the goal of a political system that decides more boldly, is less bureaucratic, and adapts better to new challenges.

Söder, by contrast, appealed at the end of the program for people to "really pull themselves together and achieve something." "Because if this government fails under such circumstances like the traffic-light coalition did, the next thing that comes will definitely not be better."