The decision by Bavaria’s Prime Minister Söder against dismissing Deputy Prime Minister Aiwanger has met with criticism. Above all, the SPD and the Greens said that the CSU leader was acting out of sheer power calculations. The free voters see it quite differently.
The adherence of the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) to his deputy Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) has met with sharp criticism, especially from the SPD and the Greens. “Mr. Söder did not decide out of attitude and responsibility, but out of simple power calculations,” said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser to the editorial network Germany (RND). “However, dealing with anti-Semitism must not be a tactical question,” stressed the SPD politician, who as the top candidate of the Hessian SPD is currently fighting for an election victory for her party in order to become Prime Minister herself.
Faeser said Aiwanger “did not apologise, nor did he convincingly dispel the allegations”. Instead, he declares himself a victim. “This is how borders are shifting that must not be shifted.” The fact that Söder allows this “damages the reputation of our country”.
Knobloch: Aiwanger has to refute allegations
The President of the Jewish Community in Munich and Upper Bavaria, Charlotte Knobloch, said that Söder’s decision was politically acceptable. However, she asked Aiwanger to take clear steps to process the situation. “He has to restore trust and make it clear that his actions are democratically and legally sound,” said Knobloch, according to a statement from the religious community. “It remains to be seen to what extent Hubert Aiwanger will be able to use words and deeds to refute the allegations that are still being made.” At the same time, the former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany declared: “The doors of the Jewish community were always open to him.”
Bavaria’s SPD leader Florian von Brunn described Aiwanger’s stay in office as a “sad day for Bavaria’s reputation in Germany and the world”. The fact that the “CSU under Markus Söder accepts an active right-wing populist and formerly a right-wing extremist activist as a deputy in the government is a negative high point in the history of post-war Germany,” said the SPD’s top candidate for the state elections. Aiwanger’s apologies were too late, too incomplete and too unreasonable. “Someone like that is not a deputy, but a disgrace to Bavaria.”
Nouripour: “Indecent and bad for Bayern”
Sharp criticism also came from Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck. “Possibly getting lost as a young person is one thing, making yourself a victim as a responsible politician and shaking the democratic foundations because of the staging is another,” said the Greens politician to the dpa news agency. “There’s a line crossed.” Against this background, Söder’s decision was “unfortunately not a good one”.
Green boss Omid Nouripour told the “Spiegel”: “It’s not about 17-year-old Hubert, but about 52-year-old Aiwanger and how he deals with his own past.” This approach is now being rewarded by Söder, “because tactics are more important to him than attitude”. Nouripour added that it was “indecent and bad for Bayern” and “bad for Germany”.
FDP sees state government “severely damaged”
Bavaria’s FDP parliamentary group leader, Martin Hagen, sees the Bavarian state government as “severely damaged” by Aiwanger’s handling of the leaflet affair. The free voter’s response to the allegations was not convincing, Hagen said. “Our country deserves an economics minister who is beyond any doubt. With regard to the Nazi past and the Shoah, there must be no ambiguity in Bavaria.” Söder apparently lacks the strength to make a clear decision. Everything that Aiwanger says and does in the future will fall back on Söder.
CSU criticism of Aiwanger’s communication
The President of the Bavarian State Parliament, Ilse Aigner (CSU), defended the decision of the Prime Minister and CSU boss Söder. “A dismissal would have been disproportionate,” she said. However, like Söder, she criticized the communication of the Deputy Prime Minister. “I would have wished for a much better crisis communication from Hubert Aiwanger,” explained Aigner. “Timely, clear, honest statements – even if the suspicion was reported so thinly – and a faster distancing from this disgusting pamphlet would not have led to this unspeakable impasse, which harmed Bayern overall.”
Söder received praise from the Free Voters camp for sticking to Aiwanger. “There is no evidence against Hubert Aiwanger, he is innocent, so Söder’s decision is logical,” said the deputy federal chairman of the Free Voters, Engin Eroglu. He assumes “that the matter of the so-called leaflet affair has been concluded with the decision of the Bavarian Prime Minister”.
The parliamentary group of the Free Voters in Bavaria also welcomed Söder’s adherence to Aiwanger. “We are glad that the Bavarian coalition will continue to work for our country in a stable and unanimous manner,” said Free Voter parliamentary group leader Florian Streibl. “We are of the opinion that Hubert Aiwanger bears no political responsibility whatsoever for the irresponsible and completely unacceptable actions of a family member more than three decades ago.”