Overview
- Gauweiler, in a Tuesday interview with Mediengruppe Bayern, urged the CSU to work more closely with the Free Voters and called his idea only a thought.
- He suggested joint election lists under a "Free Voters/CSU" banner, modeled on earlier alliance lists, to make crossing 5 percent outside Bavaria more likely.
- As another option, he said the CSU could field candidates beyond Bavaria, even though a long-standing pact leaves the CSU to Bavaria and the CDU to the rest of Germany.
- He also pressed for more openness toward the AfD, arguing that party firewalls do not replace arguments and that proposals should rise or fall on their merits.
- He said a united center-right could attract up to two thirds of voters, yet no formal response or policy change from the CSU, the Free Voters, or the CDU was reported.