Söder said that if the Berlin government failed, a government of the democratic centre would fail again within two years, and called for a fight against AfD and Left radicals.
The leadership's motion rules out cooperation with the AfD on substantive grounds and accuses the Left of antisemitism and plans to weaken security authorities.
Söder said Bavaria pays most of the roughly four billion euros a year flowing to Berlin and announced talks with Baden-Württemberg and Hesse on an anti-extremist clause.
A Bayerntrend survey by Infratest dimap put the CSU at 36 percent in Bavaria and the AfD at a record 21 percent.
CSU chairman Markus Söder warned on Friday that the black-red coalition in Berlin must not fail, saying that if the government collapsed, a government of the democratic centre would fail again within two years. He addressed delegates at the party congress in Munich and said he had argued a year earlier that this could be the last cartridge of democracy, adding that he was convinced the sentence applied more than ever. He described the country as being in the middle of a storm and said the results of the eastern state elections had been a disaster. Söder pointed to AfD gains in Saxony-Anhalt and to the Left's gains in Berlin, and said the coalition needed to deliver results.
The CSU leadership wants the party to again draw a sharp line against the AfD and the Left. A motion to be adopted at the congress carries the line "Keine Zusammenarbeit mit den Feinden der Freiheit", which rejects cooperation with the AfD on substantive grounds. The paper accuses the Left of antisemitism, "Enteignungsfantasien" and a planned weakening of security authorities. Söder said the Left in Berlin, which under Elif Eralp wants to govern with the Greens and the SPD, was a radical left that was deeply antisemitic, and he asked where the firewall against the left was.
In his speech Söder warned the federal government against trying to win voters with new debt and said the debt brake must be kept strictly. He said debt was poison and that the next major debt crisis threatened worldwide. He said the Länderfinanzausgleich hurts badly, with Bavaria paying most of the roughly four billion euros a year that flows to Berlin, and he said Berlin had never paid a single euro while receiving more than 100 billion euros. Söder announced talks with Baden-Württemberg and Hesse about an "Anti-Extremisten-Klausel" to reshape the fiscal equalisation.
Ahead of the congress, a Bayerntrend survey by Infratest dimap put the CSU at 36 percent in Bavaria, one point more than its result at the 2023 state election. The Free Voters, the junior coalition partner, reached nine percent, and 48 percent of Bavarians were satisfied with Söder's work. The same survey put the AfD at a record 21 percent in Bavaria, below its national level, and the Union at 20 percent nationally. Earlier this year the CSU had its worst municipal result since 1952 in the March local elections.
The federal chancellor is due to address the congress as a guest on Saturday, 24 October, according to NDR. Söder's speech was interrupted several times by applause, and the party is expected to adopt its motion at the end of the congress.
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CSU leader Markus Söder used the party congress in Munich on Friday, 23 October, to warn that a failing federal coalition would hand the AfD an advantage and to call for a fight against radicals on both the right and the left.
AI text based on reports by Handelsblatt, DIE WELT, Süddeutsche Zeitung and other publishers. Published . How it is made