Söder is taking a clear line: irregular migration as a condition for the coalition!

Söder is taking a clear line: irregular migration as a condition for the coalition!

At the CSU's Political Ash Wednesday in Passau, Markus Söder, CSU party leader, gave a clear signal: limiting irregular migration will become a condition for coalition negotiations with the SPD. “We will only be able to form a good coalition if we fundamentally address the migration issue and take a tough course,” said Söder to applause from the audience. He particularly emphasized that this limitation should not affect immigration for work, which underlines the urgency of the issue. Bavaria's ÖVP state governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner agreed with Söder's stance and emphasized the need for a change of course in European migration policy oe24 reported.

Criticism of Söder's priorities

The SPD criticized Söder's decision to hold on to an appearance on Ash Wednesday despite ongoing investigations. Florian von Brunn, a member of the SPD federal executive committee, noted that Söder emphasized the importance of the talks, but then questioned his priorities. “Unfortunately, speaking and acting are two different things for the CSU boss,” he told BR. The Bavarian SPD leader Ronja Endres also expressed her incomprehension that Söder placed a traditionally scheduled event above the constructive dialogue to form a government. In contrast to Söder and the CSU general secretary Martin Huber, who stuck to their appearances, both the CDU chairman Friedrich Merz and the SPD explorers canceled their appearances.

These differences in priorities are also reflected in the current exploratory talks, which are scheduled to continue on Thursday. The aim is to reach an agreement on financial, migration and tax policy. Merz expressed the hope that the consultations could be “concluded promptly” in order to form a new government by Easter. Already at the beginning of the talks, an unprecedented financial package to strengthen defense, economy and infrastructure was presented, accompanied by looser rules for defense spending, such as BR reported.