The CSU chairman Markus Söder has brought on the political Ash Wednesday in Passau heavy verbal guns against the traffic light coalition in Berlin. "This is the worst federal government Germany has ever had," said Söder to the thunderous applause of around 4000,<> party supporters. "Everyone is talking about a turning point, but so far it's just slow motion."

Former Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) was "a disgrace for Germany." Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) had even become a security risk because of thoughtless statements.

He swore his own party to a committed state election campaign. "This will be a marathon at full steam," said Söder in his speech at the political Ash Wednesday in Passau. The starting position is better than in 2018 and much better than after the 2021 Bundestag election. The party was in a "dent", in a "depression". Now the CSU is back on an upward trend and the opposition is unsettled. "The polls are stable again, the trend is upwards," said Söder. In Bavaria, a new state parliament will be elected on 8 October. All current polls see a good chance that the CSU can continue its current government coalition with the Free Voters.

Lang distributes against Söder and Wissing

At the political Ash Wednesday of the Greens in Landshut, their federal chairman Ricarda Lang initially defended her party's energy transition policy. "I never want to hear again that we are currently experiencing the failure of green energy policy," said Lang, "the exact opposite is the case: last year we experienced the brilliant failure of the fossil fuel policy of the grand coalition."

Lang, on the other hand, criticized Söder (CSU) because of his energy policy. She is not indifferent to the fact that the expansion of wind power has been overslept here in recent years and that Bavaria's potential has not been used. "What I care about is that Markus Söder endangers the prosperity of Bavaria and thus also the prosperity of Germany," said Lang, who accused the state government of "calculation tricks" in the figures for the expansion of renewable energies.

At the same time, Lang also criticized the traffic light partner FDP in transport policy. Without mentioning the FDP or its Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing directly by name, she called for finally saying yes to more regionalisation funds and more mobility in rural areas as well as to the dismantling of environmentally harmful subsidies such as the company car privilege. "And if you ask me, finally yes to a speed limit on German motorways."

Lang also indirectly addressed the budget dispute in the traffic light coalition. She underlined: "For me, basic child protection is the social policy project of this Federal Government. And we say clearly that the fight against child poverty does not come for free. But it has to be damn worth it to us." For the basic child protection, which is agreed in the coalition agreement, but for which no draft law is yet available, no money has been provided in the budget plans so far.

"Söder is a first-person shooter"

The SPD state chairman Florian von Brunn accused Söder of self-promotion instead of future-oriented politics. The Bavarian Prime Minister is a "first-person shooter" and rarely in the state parliament and prefers to take selfies for social media, said the top candidate of the Social Democrats for the state election in autumn at the political Ash Wednesday of the SPD in Vilshofen. "You can no longer save yourself from selfie Söder on Facebook and Instagram," says von Brunn. In the hall, the SPD had hung up a large banner "#MachenStattSödern".

Von Brunn also accused Söder of a failure in energy policy. Bavaria used to be at the forefront in this area, but today the Free State is "on the drip of the other federal states" and has had to import energy for years. The state of Brandenburg, which is only about half as large, already has three times as many wind turbines. In Brandenburg, almost 100 new wind turbines were built last year, in Bavaria there were just 14. "For how the Söder always inflates his cheeks, this balance is already a very thin breeze," said von Brunn.

At the political Ash Wednesday in Passau, the co-chair of the Left Party, Janine Wissler, called for negotiations in the Russian war against Ukraine. At the same time, she spoke out against the supply of heavy weapons. Everything must be done to prevent NATO from becoming a party to the war. "That would really be the slide into a very big war." The Left Party chairwoman opposed the demand of Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) to significantly increase the defense budget. "And now the new defense minister Pistorius is demanding - sometimes one thinks Pistolius would slowly be more appropriate - now he is demanding even more money for armaments," Wissler said. This money is urgently needed for "other central issues".

Pause due to the attack on Ukraine

After a break last year due to the Russian attack on Ukraine, the parties had invited again this year to the traditional Political Ash Wednesday. In Passau, the CSU will meet this Wednesday with Söder as the main speaker and "Die Linke" with its chairman Janine Wissler. The Green Party chairwoman Ricarda Lang speaks at the same time in Landshut. SPD supporters meet in Vilshofen to hear their regional chairman, Florian von Brunn.

The FDP meets in Dingolfing, where the Federal Chairman Christian Lindner speaks. At the AfD in Osterhofen, the state chairman Stephan Protschka speaks. In 2022, the Political Ash Wednesday had been canceled at short notice because the Russian war of aggression had begun in Ukraine a few days earlier.