Bavarian leader Soeder claims "party of centre" tag after refugee row

Bavarian premier Markus Soeder tried to shift perceptions of his Christian Social Union on Wednesday, calling it "a party of the centre", after a lurch to the right over immigration cost it support before a regional vote and almost tore apart Chancellor Angela Merkel's government.

Bavarian premier Markus Soeder tried to shift perceptions of his Christian Social Union on Wednesday, calling it "a party of the centre", after a lurch to the right over immigration cost it support before a regional vote and almost tore apart Chancellor Angela Merkel's government.

However, Soeder said nothing to indicate he was abandoning the hard line of immigration laid down by the CSU leader, Horst Seehofer. The party leader has called for Germany to act unilaterally and impose tougher border controls if the European Union can't reach an EU-wide agreement on immigration.

"Seehofer is Seehofer and Markus Soeder is Markus Soeder," Soeder said in an interview with Die Zeit magazine published on Wendnesday.

The Bavarian CSU, sister party to Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), pushed her ruling coalition to the brink of collapse earlier this month by demanding that she do more to restrict the number of migrants entering Germany.

By staking out a hard line, Seehofer tried to win voters before October elections in Bavaria, where it faces a stiff challenge from the far-right Alternative for Germany. But polls suggest the party is failing to draw voters away from the AfD.

After the CSU's worst polling numbers in years and a weekend protest against its migration stance by 25,000 people in Munich, Soeder sought to reclaim the centre ground, refusing to classify the CSU as right-wing.

"The CSU is a party of the centre," Soeder said in an interview with Die Zeit magazine published on Wendnesday.

The media exaggerated the CSU's row with Merkel over migration earlier this month, Soeder said, adding that he personally felt a sense of anger against traffickers when he thought of refugees drowning in the Mediterranean.

Asked what European right-wing politicians could learn from "U.S. President Donald Trump's populism", Soeder said: "You have to ask populists."

The CSU has been a thorn in Merkel's side over migration policy since the chancellor's decision in 2015 to open Germany's borders to more a million refugees fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and central Asia.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)