Former deputy CSU chairman Peter Gauweiler advised his party to strengthen its ties with the Free Voters and even consider entering elections outside of Bavaria as part of a unified coalition. Gauweiler reported to the “Mediengruppe Bayern” that the Free Voters and CSU should be able to present a “Bavarian blueprint” outside the federal state. He argued that if the CSU were to implement a system similar to the one used by Bündnis 90/The Greens-such as a joint “Free Voters/CSU Alliance”-it would make overcoming the five-percent election threshold not merely possible, but highly likely.
He noted that this was “just an idea” adding that otherwise, the party risks passing up strategic possibilities and then being surprised that the center-right bloc is occupied by activist fringes. Gauweiler estimates that the potential for a center-right “mood bloc” is significant enough to potentially capture two-thirds of the votes. His goal, he stated, is to end the “discrepancy that Germans are governed by the left, even if they vote right”. Alternatively to a coalition with the Free Voters, Gauweiler suggested that the CSU could contemplate running on its own candidacy outside Bavaria.
Regarding the AfD, Gauweiler expressed skepticism about the concept of a “firewall”. He argued that “firewalls do not replace arguments” and criticized the metaphor itself as undiscussable. For Gauweiler, what matters more than ideology is the willingness of others to engage in open conversation, stating that dialogue is a value in itself.
The CSU politician emphasized the importance of parliamentary process, stating that it is “democratically dishonest” to reject legislative proposals solely because they originate from the “wrong” party. He recalled that during his time in the Bundestag, he had supported motions from The Left when he felt it was appropriate, and he would repeat this toward the AfD if the circumstances were similar.
Gauweiler has a long political history, serving as a state secretary in the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior under Franz Josef Strauß and as the State Minister for the Environment under Edmund Stoiber. He served for the CSU in both the state parliament and the Bundestag and was known for a period as the party’s conservative conscience.