Markus Söder’s “Bromance” with the Green Party’s Gay Mayor

What pictures. Markus Söder, side by side with a Green. The CSU leader and the openly gay Munich mayor Dominik Krause, seated next to each other in a small rollercoaster car, both gripping the bar in front of them. Their hair blown back by the wind. And both seem after 1,250 meters and five loops to feel about as relieved as the ride ends and they can step out of the tight vehicle.

So much closeness is rare these days between Black and Green. But what does this apparently tight relationship between Söder and a prominent Green signify? A “bromance,” a new, intimate male friendship, as it’s described on social media or in Spiegel (paywalled article)? Or at least a sign of easing and de-escalation in the relationship between the two parties after years of bitter Green-bashing by the CSU—with equally pointed counterattacks by Greens against the Christian Socials?

A roller-coaster ride instead of Green-bashing

It isn’t that simple. After all, the alliance between Söder and Krause, who has been Munich’s mayor for half a year, rests on a straightforward motive: they want to bring the Olympic Games to Munich. For months they had been pushing for the national nomination process last Saturday, anxiously awaiting the outcome. In the Kurhaus in Baden-Baden, where the decision was announced, they trembled together and then celebrated together. And now they are honoring their pledge to ride the “Olympia Looping” at Oktoberfest.

Some observers may still wonder how these two ended up on the same wavelength. Is this the same Söder who in recent years scarcely paused at a beer tent to pounce on the Greens? And especially on then-Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck, with whom Söder famously harbored a fierce feud. Other CSU leaders followed Söder’s example, laughing and chiming in with the loud verbal assaults.

A long anti-Green course

To jog memory: even some people inside the CSU thought that path went too far. Former party chairmen Horst Seehofer and Erwin Huber, for example, repeatedly criticized the long, hard anti-Green campaign in no uncertain terms. Huber even showed up as a guest at a gathering of the Bavarian Greens’ parliamentary group—hardly a neutral move—so as to illustrate his stance. And why? Because he later said Söder & Co.’s persistent Green-bashing was wrong, as he explained.

In recent months Söder’s attacks on the Greens have softened—perhaps also because the shared foe AfD has begun to weld them closer together? Or because the CSU, after the Berlin election, has identified the Left as a more decisive adversary alongside the AfD?

In several states, the Union and Greens must work together to govern—and who knows what will come after the next federal elections. It may make sense not to burn bridges completely. After all, the Greens could gain greater influence via the Bundesrat.

In the state legislature, sparks still fly

In Bavaria, of course, CSU and Greens still keep their distance. In the state Parliament, CSU and Greens repeatedly clash. Many CSU politicians get short of breath when Greens’ parliamentary group leader Katharina Schulze steps to the podium. Or— from the CSU perspective more troubling— the Lower Bavarian representative Toni Schuberl.

Yet Söder appears to get along well with the new Munich mayor. This was evident in a friendly foosball match shortly after Krause’s victory. That, in itself, isn’t unusual—the state and the capital city depend on each other. Whether in the Olympic bid, transportation or economic policy, in questions about the airport or the S-Bahn trunk line. Even Krause’s predecessor, longtime SPD mayor Dieter Reiter, enjoyed a broadly good relationship with Söder.

And someday, an Olympic tattoo?
The same holds at the state level: Söder gets along quite well with the former Baden-Württemberg Green Premier Winfried Kretschmann, despite political differences. A similarly pragmatic dynamic also applies with Kretschmann’s successor Cem Özdemir (also a Green)—not only when it comes to a bright future for the auto industry in both states. Shared interests, concerns, and goals have a way of binding people together.

Clearly, before and after the ride on the “Olympia Looping,” Söder and Krause will need to work closely in the coming years. Not only on the Olympics, where both hope the Bavarian capital will be a strong international competitor and bring the Games back to Munich after 1972. “So if this really works out, we might have to ride it five times or perhaps even get an Olympic tattoo,” Söder suggested right away.

The Munich radio station Radio Arabella treated Söder and Krause after the roller-coaster ride with two very special Wiesn gingerbread hearts bearing the inscription “Bro-lympia” and a photo of the two unlikely partners. This prompted former Green national chair Ricarda Lang to post on Instagram with a string of hearts: “The bromance between Markus Söder and Dominik Krause was not on my 2026 bingo card.” And she added: “The stuff of fanfiction. The bromance we didn’t know we needed.”