Bavarian politics are often regarded with disdain in other parts of Germany. While the current Bavarian First Minister Markus Söder never fails to claim that Bavaria is a shining example to the rest of Germany, Bavarian politicians are frequently ridiculed or seen as the arch enemy by progressively minded Germans. Although the support for the Bavarian conservative party (CSU) has begun to diminish, the party has dominated local politics since the war to such an extent that to be Bavarian seemed to mean you voted conservative. To give you a current example of the long lasting influence of the CSU: In a small village in the Alpine mountains, Balderschwang, the local CSU candidate got 91,5% of the vote in the recent elections. The current mayor, Konrad Kienle, is not only serving for the third time, but he is also the fourth generation in his family to serve as a mayor in the village (there have been other CSU mayors in between). How is such political continuity even possible, Germans elsewhere wonder and with good reason. Konrad Kienle of Balderschwang provides an interesting explanation. He says in a small place like that (350 people), there’s only a small number of people who want to stand for office and it’s more often a question of personality rather than political views that decides who gets elected. It seems the people in Balderschwang see no reason for a fundamental change, so all potential candidates join the CSU and that’s why the sole candidate can achieve election results other politicians in a democracy can only dream of. Depending on your viewpoint, that sounds enviably stable or like stonewalling any change. Other villages show that local CSU politicians can be astonishingly progressive.
In Scheidegg, another village close to the Alps, the CSU mayor got 93,6% of the vote this year. Like in Balderschwang, there was only one candidate and the current mayor has been in office since 2006. The mayor, Ulrich Pfanner, has made the reduction of CO2 emissions his priority since he first got into office. The village took part in the European Energy Award programme which supported and advised local communities that wanted to build and extend heating networks fed by renewable energies. (The programme ended last year.) In Scheidegg the community bought up used solar panels and volunteers installed them around the village. Furthermore, various other measures have been introduced, e.g. a wood gas power station was built, the public transport system was improved, the use of e-bikes and e-cars encouraged in various ways. While the First Minister of Bavaria, Markus Söder, a dyed-in-the-wool CSU politician, constantly rails against the Green party and green policies, some local CSU politicians like Pfanner, quietly implement them. It’s clearly not impossible to convince people with a conservative outlook who want to protect what they have that renewable energies are the future.
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The new regulation that men between 18 and 45 years now have to apply for permission from the Bundeswehr (German Army) if they want to go abroad for more than three months is bound to go down badly with the public. Here a spokesman for the CSU tries to tone down the policy by saying that while the regulation has come into effect from the beginning of this year, it will only be enforced once conscription is brought back. That, however, now only seems to be a question of time. The government appears to have forgotten that for Germans in former East Germany travel restrictions were one reason for rebelling against their regime, and that Germans in general are keen travellers who have always relished being able to travel anywhere without restrictions.
In Scheidegg, another village close to the Alps, the CSU mayor got 93,6% of the vote this year. Like in Balderschwang, there was only one candidate and the current mayor has been in office since 2006. The mayor, Ulrich Pfanner, has made the reduction of CO2 emissions his priority since he first got into office. The village took part in the European Energy Award programme which supported and advised local communities that wanted to build and extend heating networks fed by renewable energies. (The programme ended last year.) In Scheidegg the community bought up used solar panels and volunteers installed them around the village. Furthermore, various other measures have been introduced, e.g. a wood gas power station was built, the public transport system was improved, the use of e-bikes and e-cars encouraged in various ways. While the First Minister of Bavaria, Markus Söder, a dyed-in-the-wool CSU politician, constantly rails against the Green party and green policies, some local CSU politicians like Pfanner, quietly implement them. It’s clearly not impossible to convince people with a conservative outlook who want to protect what they have that renewable energies are the future.
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The new regulation that men between 18 and 45 years now have to apply for permission from the Bundeswehr (German Army) if they want to go abroad for more than three months is bound to go down badly with the public. Here a spokesman for the CSU tries to tone down the policy by saying that while the regulation has come into effect from the beginning of this year, it will only be enforced once conscription is brought back. That, however, now only seems to be a question of time. The government appears to have forgotten that for Germans in former East Germany travel restrictions were one reason for rebelling against their regime, and that Germans in general are keen travellers who have always relished being able to travel anywhere without restrictions.
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