Bavaria State Governor on virus, EU and NATO

Markus Soeder is many things: state governor of Bavaria, Star Trek fan, a conservative for whom combating climate change is an article of faith. The question Germans are asking now is: can the 54-year-old win enough backing across the political spectrum to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor in September.

Once dismissed as a provincial troublemaker, Soeder was catapulted onto the national stage last year when the country's first coronavirus cases were confirmed in Bavaria. Over the past months he has loyally supported Merkel - whose cool-handed approach to the pandemic has been praised in Germany and beyond  - forcefully defending lockdown measures even as other state governors wavered.

The pandemic "is a big test that we have to pass," Soeder told The Associated Press in an wide-ranging interview during which he also laid out the next steps in the conservative leadership race and spoke about his love for America - and disdain for Donald Trump.

Soeder's current gripe is with the European Union's executive Commission, which he blames for the slow rollout of vaccines across the 27-nation bloc. The EU, he said "ordered vaccines too late, too little and, I believe, too stingily. The approach to vaccines was the way that you might normally order paper clips."

The Brussels-based executive is a frequent punching bag for national politicians across the EU. But Soeder's criticism falls firmly at the feet of Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, a fellow member of the Union bloc in which Merkel's Christian Democrats and his Bavaria-only Christian Social Union are unequal sisters. Soeder's confidence that his complaints should be heard stem partly from the fact that Bavaria plays an outsized role in Germany: it is the country's biggest state and its economic powerhouse.

Slightly larger in size than West Virginia, it has a population bigger than Greece or Portugal, with none of the fiscal difficulties those countries have experienced in recent years. In fact, Bavarians regularly grumble that not only do they bail out other EU nations, they also pay for the profligacy in Berlin, a city that Soeder compared unfavourably with his own southern state.

"(It's) bit hectic, a bit loud," he said. "We're more like California: better weather, high technology and a different work-life balance."

Born in Nuremberg, the son of a building contractor, Soeder has spoken of his early enthusiasm for conservative politics at a time when Germany's youth was decidedly left-wing. While other students were protesting against what they considered U.S. imperialism, Soeder - who grew up next to an American military hospital and regularly visited the local PX for pizza and ice cream - recalls attending a rally in favor of the first Gulf War.

Soeder is keen for the new U.S. administration to reverse Trump's plan to pull American troops out of Germany. Soeder agrees that Germany should pay more for its defense - a U.S. demand that precedes the Trump administration. "More contributions to NATO - absolutely right. Expand and strengthen NATO - absolutely right," he said. "But we are not little children. We are partners, not vassals or subordinates." Unlike most German politicians, Soeder is open about his Christian beliefs. That faith includes a firm belief that protecting the environment is a religious duty.

"The preservation of creation is a conservative idea," he said, insisting that environmentalism and economic progress can go hand in hand. "It's the same as with corona: the economic damage in the long run is much greater and much worse if we do nothing."

Soeder raised eyebrows when he suggested banning conventional combustion engines by 2035. He says there were no angry calls from powerful German automakers such as BMW or Audi, both of which are based in Bavaria. Roman Deininger, a journalist for Munich daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung who has written a biography of Soeder, said the Bavarian governor is capable of making radical decisions when he recognizes they are necessary, even if he has to reverse his own position. Critics accuse him of adjusting his position to whichever is most popular at the time. Soeder counters that he'd rather be at the front than make up the rear. 

(Image Credits: AP)