Instead of being in the state parliament, the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder prefers to go to folk festivals, the Secretary General of the Bavarian SPD reports to him. Söder is said to have attended only three of 21 meetings, and he would have ignored a request from the SPD for a state parliament survey.

The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder can often be seen with beer in his hand. True to tradition, Söder visits the numerous folk festivals in his state in spring and summer. But he is hardly to be found in the state parliament, accuses the Bavarian SPD.

Speaking to the news site t-online, Secretary General Arif Taşdelen said that Söder has only attended three of the last 21 sessions of the state parliament. Taşdelen alleges that Söder would rather be at folk festivals than at meetings. Even at the three meetings attended, Söder is said not to have been present for the entire period.

For Taşdelen the “summit of insolence”: The SPD had asked the Bavarian Prime Minister to answer questions in the state parliament about the second regular route in Munich. But he did not come to the meeting. According to Taşdelen, Söder’s prioritization of visiting folk festivals is already part of his pre-election campaign tactics. The next state elections in Bavaria are expected to take place in autumn 2023.

“The Prime Minister always points to Berlin instead of dealing with the important issues in Bavaria,” says the Bavarian SPD general secretary. Only recently, Söder accused the traffic light government of “Bavaria bashing” and justified this with reduced grants and canceled appointments. He told the “Bild” newspaper: “We as the CSU are therefore the only ones who are committed to the Free State of Bavaria in Berlin.”