Söder's bold speech: Tax cuts, military rules and sharp attacks

Markus Söder's fiery speech in Passau mixes policy with provocative jabs

Bavaria's Political Ash Wednesday: Söder's Barbs, Green Criticism, and a Shifting Landscape

The Dreiländerhalle in Passau was declared a "left-wing green no-go zone," and then Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder launched into his usual combative style: The Greens, he said, should "do some proper work first" before they were allowed to insult him. Heidi Reichinnek, leader of the Left Party—whom he dubbed "red Heidi, the socialist TikTok aunt, the Rosa Luxemburg for the poor"—should stick to driving an East German Trabant instead of a Bavarian Audi. And Daniel Halemba, the AfD lawmaker recently convicted of assault, was dismissed as a "brown cigarette butt."

Söder's jabs were as sharp as ever, but this year, the CSU leader had to show more restraint than usual. His favorite punching bag—Berlin, embodied in recent years by the despised traffic-light coalition—was no longer a viable target, now that the sister party, the CDU, holds the chancellorship. And though Friedrich Merz and Söder have not always seen eye to eye in the past, the CSU currently has three ministers in the federal government.

Swipes at Coalition Partners

Still, Söder couldn't resist a dig at Vice Chancellor and SPD leader Lars Klingbeil, thanking him for his party's support on citizen's income reforms. "I'm always more lenient with him—he's a Bayern fan," Söder quipped. "If I came from the Hannover area, I'd understand too!" As for Berlin's recent icy chaos under CDU rule, he remarked that Bavaria puts more salt on its pretzels than the capital does on its streets. There, he claimed, NGOs had sued "so people could break their legs." He stopped short, however, of mocking Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner for playing tennis during a power outage.

Since 1953, under CSU leader Franz Josef Strauss, the Political Ash Wednesday rally has been a staple of the party's calendar. Some 4,000 people attended this year's event in Passau—one of Söder's last major appearances before Bavaria's municipal and district elections on March 8. While the CSU remains unbeaten in statewide polls, its support has dipped below 40 percent, with the AfD surging to as much as 19 percent—up from 14.6 percent in the 2023 state elections. Söder used his speech to sharpen his profile: no higher taxes or fuel levies, he vowed, but instead a demand for "performance, performance, performance" and an extra hour of work per week. "Twelve more minutes a day—surely that's manageable for work-life balance," he said.

He also called for stricter military service rules. "We need more soldiers to protect NATO and our borders," Söder declared. "That's why we need proper conscription—real conscription." Those who love Germany, he added, should support the Bundeswehr.

The Greens, at their own event, accused the CSU leader of sheer self-interest. "Markus Söder works full-time—for Markus Söder, and unfortunately for no one else," said Katharina Schulze, leader of the Greens' state parliamentary group, in Landshut. Sometimes, she joked, the cabinet's agenda in the state legislature seemed to have just two items: "First: Does this help Maggus? And second: What's for lunch afterward?"

Greens Strike Back with Sissi Jabs

Katharina Dröge, co-leader of the Greens' Bundestag faction, took aim at Chancellor Merz's outdated views on women: "Unfortunately, we have a chancellor whose idea of women seems stuck somewhere between Sissi, Dinner for One, and the early days of the dishwasher." She added: "When he makes comments like that, he reminds me of Windows 95 in German politics—a system so outdated there are no more updates, and one you really shouldn't run anymore for security reasons."

Free Voters' Union leader Hubert Aiwanger, Bavaria's deputy minister-president and coalition partner of the CSU, used Ash Wednesday to position his party as a champion of freedom. "I want to decide for myself whether I heat my home with wood, gas, or a heat pump. I want to decide for myself how I move around and live in this country. We don't need ever more paternalism," he declared in Deggendorf. "We do not stand for a nanny state that dictates every detail of what we must do."

His criticism was aimed primarily at policymakers in Berlin and Brussels, while he largely refrained from jabs at the CSU.

AfD: Allegations Part of a Media Campaign

Markus Frohnmaier, the AfD's lead candidate in Baden-Württemberg's state election, offered more defense than attack. Addressing accusations of nepotism within his party, he dismissed them as a media campaign against the AfD. The only real criterion, he argued, was whether someone possessed the necessary qualifications—and in "very, very many" of these cases, they did.

FDP politician Wolfgang Kubicki took direct aim at the AfD, appealing to its voters: "There's no shame in turning blue once. But staying blue is a tragedy—and proof of human incompetence."

Meanwhile, the Munich Association for Free Thought condemned the events, arguing that loud brass bands and "feeble jokes" were out of place on Ash Wednesday, traditionally observed as a day of quiet reflection. Public entertainment on such occasions is subject to clear restrictions.