At the federal level, the CSU forms a common faction in theBundestag with the CDU which is frequently referred to as the Union Faction (die Unionsfraktion) or simplyCDU/CSU. The CSU has had 44 seats in the Bundestag since the2025 federal election,[16] making it currently the sixth largest of the seven parties represented and the largest parliamentary faction as part ofCDU/CSU with 208 seats. The CSU is a member of theEuropean People's Party and theInternational Democracy Union.
Party leaderMarkus Söder serves asMinister-President of Bavaria, a position that CSU representatives have held from 1946 to 1954 and again since 1957. From 1962 to 2008 and from 2013 to 2018, the CSU had the absolute majority in the Bavarian Landtag.
The CSU has led the Bavarian state government since it came into existence in 1946, save from 1954 to 1957 when the SPD formed a state government in coalition with theBavaria Party and the state branches of theGB/BHE and FDP.
Initially, the separatistBavaria Party (BP) successfully competed for the same electorate as the CSU, as both parties saw and presented themselves as successors to the BVP. The CSU was ultimately able to win this power struggle for itself. Among other things, the BP was involved in the"casino affair" under dubious circumstances by the CSU at the end of the 1950s and lost considerable prestige and votes. In the 1966 state election, the BP finally left the state parliament.
Franz Josef Strauß (1915–1988) had left behind the strongest legacy as a leader of the party, having led the party from 1961 until his death in 1988. His political career in the federal cabinet was unique in that he had served in four ministerial posts in the years between 1953 and 1969. From 1978 until his death in 1988, Strauß served as the Minister-President of Bavaria. Strauß was the first leader of the CSU to be a candidate for the German chancellery in 1980. In the1980 federal election, Strauß ran against the incumbentHelmut Schmidt of theSocial Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) but lost thereafter as the SPD and theFree Democratic Party (FDP) managed to secure an absolute majority together, forming asocial-liberal coalition.
Before the 2008 elections in Bavaria, the CSU perennially achieved absolute majorities at the state level by itself. This level of dominance is unique among Germany's 16 states.Edmund Stoiber took over the CSU leadership in 1999. He ran forChancellor of Germany in 2002, but his preferredCDU/CSU–FDP coalition lost against the SPD candidateGerhard Schröder'sSPD–Green alliance.
In the2003 Bavarian state election, the CSU won 60.7% of the vote and 124 of 180 seats in the state parliament. This was the first time any party had won a two-thirds majority in a German state parliament.[17]The Economist later suggested that this exceptional result was due to a backlash against Schröder's government in Berlin.[18] The CSU's popularity declined in subsequent years. Stoiber stepped down from the posts of Minister-President and CSU chairman in September 2007. A year later, the CSU lost its majority in the2008 Bavarian state election, with its vote share dropping from 60.7% to 43.4%. The CSU remained in power by forming a coalition with the FDP. In the2009 general election, the CSU received only 42.5% of the vote in Bavaria in the 2009 election, which by then constituted its weakest showing in the party's history.
The CSU made gains in the2013 Bavarian state election and the2013 federal election, which were held a week apart in September 2013. The CSU regained their majority in the Bavarian Landtag and remained in government in Berlin. They had three ministers in theFourth Merkel cabinet, namelyHorst Seehofer (Minister of the Interior, Building and Community),Andreas Scheuer (Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure) andGerd Müller (Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development).
The2021 German federal election saw the worst election result ever for the Union.[19] The CSU also had a weak showing with 5.2% of votes nationally and 31.7% of the total in Bavaria. In the2023 Bavarian state election, the CSU remained on 85 seats (with 37.0% of the vote) and continued its coalition government with the Free Voters.
Eight working groups, eleven working committees, eight commissions, and seven forums develop the substantive and strategic positions of CSU policy.[22]Outside the party are the Union of Trainees and Students in Bavaria (SUBayern) and the Association of ChristianDemocratic Students (RCDS), an association of university groups affiliated with the CDU/CSU.
In addition to that, the CSU offers various programs, such as the Political Academy of the CSU. The prestigious two-year program provides different lectures, workshops and trainings for the participants. It is highly selective with only thirty members per year.[23]
The handling of the day-to-day business and questions of economic activity of the party is the task of the party'spraesidium, which, in addition to the party chairman and his deputies, the secretary general, the treasurers and secretaries, as well as the managing director and the chairman of the finance commission, have seven members elected by the board. ThePraesidium is considered the closest leadership circle of the CSU.[24]
The internal party administration and organisation is the responsibility of the so-called state leadership, which is based in the Franz-Josef-Strauß-Haus in Munich-Schwabing.[25] It is led by the Secretary General (since 6. May 2022Martin Huber[26]) and the managing director (since March 2020 Tobias Schmid[27]).
The CSU pledges to supportsmall and medium enterprises, opposing tax increases on these companies. In the 2006 fiscal year, the CSU presented a budget for Bavaria that was the first state to have no new debt, achieved primarily through rigorous spending cuts by all ministries. The party also states that for a new regulation to be introduced, an old regulation must be eliminated.[31]
The CSU relies on the three-tier school system and justifies it in the dispute overcomprehensive schools with Bavaria's good results in thePISA study. The multi-tier school system in Bavaria is seen as flexible, since all Bavarian secondary schools enable their students to obtain an intermediate school certificate.[33]
For a long time, the CSU supported the charging oftuition fees, but in October 2012 parts of the CSU, in particular CSU chairman Horst Seehofer, were already considering abolishing them.[34] In April 2013, the Bavarian State Parliament decided to abolish tuition fees, with the support of some CSU members.[35]
The CSU strongly opposes a general speed limit on Bavarian motorways.[36]
The CSU is the sister party of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU).[37] Together, they are called the Union.[37] The CSU operates only within Bavaria, and the CDU operates in all states other than Bavaria. While virtually independent,[38] at the federal level the parties form a commonCDU/CSU faction. NoChancellor has ever come from the CSU, although Strauß andEdmund Stoiber were CDU/CSU candidates for Chancellor in the1980 federal election and the2002 federal election, respectively, which were both won by theSocial Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Below the federal level, the parties are entirely independent.[39]
Since its formation, the CSU has been moreconservative than the CDU.[9][example needed] CSU and the state of Bavaria decided not to sign theGrundgesetz of the Federal Republic of Germany as they could not agree with thedivision of Germany into two states afterWorld War II. Although Bavaria like all German states has a separate police and justice system (distinctive and non-federal), the CSU has actively participated in all political affairs of the German Parliament, the German government, the German Bundesrat, the parliamentary elections of the German President, the European Parliament and meetings withMikhail Gorbachev in Russia.
^Boswell, Christina; Hough, Dan (2009). "Politicizing migration : opportunity or liability for the centre-right in Germany?".Immigration and integration policy in Europe : why politics -- and the centre-right -- matter. By Bale, Tim. Journal of European Public Policy Series. London: Routledge. pp. 18, 21.ISBN9780415468343.OCLC461254258.
^Klaus Detterbeck (2012).Multi-Level Party Politics in Western Europe. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 105.
^Hornsteiner, Margaret; Saalfeld, Thomas (2014). "Parties and the Party System".Developments in German Politics. By Padgett, Stephen; Paterson, William E.; Zohlnhöfer, Reimut. Vol. 4. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 80.ISBN9781137301635.OCLC885477730.
The Left: is currently only in the state parliaments ofBerlin, Bremen,Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia.
BSW: is currently only in the state parliaments of Berlin, Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony, and Thuringia.
FW: is currently only in the state parliaments ofBavaria, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony; does not participate in state elections inBrandenburg, an associated partyBVB/FW participates here.
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