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Ironically, Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder has presented a biography of NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet, two potential competitors in the race for chancellor candidacy. Laschet wants to return the favor soon.
By Christian Feld, ARD capital studio
The Meistersaal in Berlin is a place with a great history. David Bowie’s song “Heroes” was written here at Potsdamer Platz. U2 and Depeche Mode also worked on their music there. This morning the Meistersaal is the scene of two politicians, whose names are dropped when speculation about possible candidates for Chancellor of the Union. But only one of them is present himself.
Markus Söder has to be patient for a few minutes. First, the two journalists Tobias Blasius (Funke Mediengruppe) and Moritz Küpper (Deutschlandfunk) talk about their book “Der Machtmenschliche. Armin Laschet. The Biography”. The opening act, so to speak. The top act is waiting for your performance. Markus Söder is sitting in the front row and has a larger-than-life Armin Laschet in front of him – the book cover as a stand on stage.
Attractive experimental setup
Söder on Laschet: In the government district, which is notoriously over-excited, some people’s eyes light up. It’s a lovely experimental setup. But the Bavarian Prime Minister quickly made it clear: he would have arranged such an appointment for Norbert Röttgen or Friedrich Merz, the other candidates as head of the CDU, or for Jens Spahn. If you had asked.
Söder talks amiably about Laschet. Maybe you underestimated it in recent years? “No, definitely not”. In the end he won an election in North Rhine-Westphalia: “You have to recognize that, simply, professionally, you have to do it first.”
“Reliable moments of unprofessional emotionality”
And yet the presentation of the book is, of course, an opportunity to compare the two prime ministers. The book says: “While others, like his Bavarian counterpart from CSU, Markus Söder, may subordinate every public word and gesture to a higher goal, Laschet reliably grants himself moments of unprofessional emotionality and sudden spontaneity.” He is not a “power machine”, but the “power human”.
The biography is over 350 pages long. The two authors have gathered much material and chart Laschet’s path. He is very involved and related from the beginning. As a teenager, he kept calling Hans-Dietrich Genscher’s private number and talking to his mother. You want a guest article for a self-produced newspaper. Finally, the Foreign Ministry responds: It received the text, but it should refrain from making any further calls to Mother Genscher.
Bridge builders in coalition negotiations
Laschet: family man, settled in Aachen. Actors on stage. Engaged in the church. As editor-in-chief of the church newspaper, he warned early on that “the future of the planet is now at stake.” Its characteristics are “be creative, think outside the box, never take it easy and not be too good at anything, be enthusiastic”. During the Jamaica negotiations he was a bridge builder.
But the biography is certainly not one-sided flattery. On the contrary, there are many passages that sound unflattering. Of his early days in Bonn it was said: “Speaker, speechwriter, journalist: the combination of Laschet’s activities in Bonn would probably trigger a real scandal today.” In other places there is talk of volatility, hasty messages and superficial work. Of course, the reference to a failed appearance in “Anne Will” should not be missing. The big picture is made up of many very different facets.
Söder is still a diplomat
Does Laschet lack the own hardships of the profession? The authors believe that the unconditional willingness to debate is rarely felt in it. Markus Söder doesn’t just want to sign that at the Meistersaal book launch: “Norbert Röttgen and many others: they can say that Armin can do something there too.” To support him, he makes a driving motion with a closed fist.
At the end of the book he says about Laschet: “Yes, he wants to get to the top, but he probably doesn’t have to. Is that enough?” Authors do not force a response on their readers. Markus Söder comments on the race to the top of the CDU in the most diplomatic way possible. And when it came to their own ambitions, no one expected to learn anything new from the release of this book. In early November, it was announced today, Armin Laschet will present a biography of Söder. The title: “The Chancellor in the Shadow”.
