Free State trio wants to show strength with a common voice

The Free States of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia want to present their political demands to the federal government with one voice more often in future. The Minister Presidents Markus Söder (CSU), Michael Kretschmer and Mario Voigt (both CDU) signed an agreement to this effect in Kronach. The agreement outlines common concerns such as strengthening rural areas compared to urban centers, strengthening core industries and expanding the transport infrastructure, especially towards the east.

"When three Free States speak with one voice, this will not go unheard in Berlin," said Voigt. Söder emphasized that the Free State trio would advocate a change in the financial equalization of the federal states. Payments should only be made from western states to the east and no longer to the old federal states. "Anyone who needs money in the west has not managed well," said Söder.

The Free States - all three now have state governments led by the CDU/CSU - also want to work together to combat populism in politics. In Thuringia, the AfD, which is classified as far-right there, has the strongest state parliamentary group, while in Saxony it is only just behind the CDU in second place.

In some Bavarian regions, the AfD also has above-average strength. In the last state election in the Upper Franconian constituency of Kronach/Lichtenfels, for example, the right-wing populists received almost 20 percent of the vote.

In view of the doubling of support for populist parties since the last federal election, politicians are called upon to take up important issues with determination, said Kretschmer. "Democracy is best defended by solving, addressing and clarifying people's problems - those that they themselves have as an issue and not those that you have chosen," he said. "We have to crack down!"