Merkel’s Bavarian allies get new party head who promises ‘new start’ for political union

Markus Soeder, the Bavarian prime minister, has replaced Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer as the head of the Christian Social Union – a Bavarian political force, which has long been allied with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The leadership change follows months of bickering between the allied parties over the German migration policy and other issues. Soeder, who also used to be one of Merkel’s critics, promised a new era of cooperation with the CDU after he was elected the Bavarian party leader while being the only candidate. “The conservatives should work with each other again instead of against each other, we should emphasize what we agree on rather than what we disagree on,” he told the CSU delegates.