Overview
- At the party’s 80th‑anniversary celebration, Markus Söder categorically ruled out cooperation with the AfD, calling it a betrayal of CSU values and vowing to oppose and fight the party.
- Söder argued the AfD promotes a different concept of democracy and freedom without minority protections, noting the Bavarian AfD is under domestic intelligence observation.
- Recent polling puts the CSU at roughly 37 to 39 percent in Bavaria, well below past dominance and far from a single‑party majority, with the AfD and Freie Wähler eroding its conservative flank.
- Reiterating core positions, Söder backed reintroducing conscription, criticized the system of financial transfers among states, pledged protection for Israel, and pressed for a stricter migration course.
- The celebration exposed internal tensions, with youth activists challenging pension and fiscal policy and party elders urging less leader‑centric politics and more team focus.