GERMANY - Markus Söder, 51, Bavaria’s noisy new premier, got out of his car, complimented a woman in a dirndl [traditional Bavarian feminine dress], patted a couple of police horses, threw some sound bites about border security at the cameras, then strode into the beer tent to address the people of Baierbrunn, a small village near Munich. “If Germany is strong, it’s because Bavaria is strong,” Mr Söder intoned from the stage in his Frankish lilt, to approving cheers. “And because we’re strong,” he roared over more cheers, “we take the liberty to have an opinion!”
Few outside of Bavaria know Mr Söder (pronounced Zoo-der). Lately, attention has focused on Horst Seehofer, another Bavarian and the German interior minister whose threat to resign over a border issue created a political crisis this week.
But Mr Söder as much as anyone is the reason Chancellor Angela Merkel, who once staked her legacy on welcoming hundreds of thousands of migrants to Germany, finally capitulated and agreed to turn back migrants already registered elsewhere in Europe at the Bavarian border with Austria — something Mr Söder has been demanding for months.
The “opinion” Mr Söder has voiced on behalf of Bavaria is that he wants to put a stop to what he calls “asylum tourism” and TO “DEFEND” BAVARIAN AND CHRISTIAN VALUES. Last month he ordered Christian crosses to be hung in all state government buildings in Bavaria. This month he launched a Bavarian border force even though migrant numbers are sharply down.