Germany: Election Defeat of the CDU Is Criticism of the System

Photo: DPA

Originally appeared at DWN, translated by Karin exclusively for SouthFront

Bavarian Prime Minister Seehofer is convinced the election defeats for the CDU could not be exclusively blamed on the refugee policy. Behind the behavior is a criticism of the system that is a threat for the parties.

CSU chief Horst Seehofer criticized the policy of Chancellor Angela Merkel and blamed them for the poor showing of the CDU in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. “The situation is highly threatening for the Union” the people do not want “these Berlin politics,” Seehofer said to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” on Tuesday. “People want to be taken seriously, but that they are not.” The country is “torn as rarely before, confidence rapidly dwindles. People just do not understand anymore how policy is made in Germany. They no longer feel included”.

“We had a good first half of the big coalition,” Seehofer recognized, according to the preliminary report, then adding: “This path, as well known, has been left and been replaced by a different definition of immigration policy in the late summer of 2015. The CSU was neither informed nor involved in it. I do not have to correct myself; I don’t even have to change a word of my former statements. ”

His repeated call for course correction in the refugee policy was not heard, said the Bavarian premier. The disastrous election result was a consequence of it. It is “the continuation of disastrous election results” for the CDU. The refugee policy is just one issue the problem lies much deeper. He is convinced that “behind it is a critique of the system “.

Seehofer demanded: “We need a clear line of the content: taxation, internal security, pensions, immigration – not later than September/October there has to be a clarification established ” The CSU will do this already right from their board exam over the weekend – “then we will have to see if we can come to an agreement with the CDU “.

Seehofer also demanded a stronger focus on domestic policy from Merkel. He said, now  “it is about giving people a clear contextual orientation”. Therefore he would postpone his for October planned trip to Russia, to meet President Vladimir Putin, for two or three months. “The internal political clarification of things is the need of the hour,” Seehofer said.