The Bavarian Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) sharply criticized the planned heating law and Berlin’s federal policy at a demonstration on Saturday in Erding. For this he received a lot of applause. Critics accuse the deputy prime minister from Lower Bavaria of populism and a lack of differentiation from the right.
Aiwanger also speaks to right-wing extremists
Aiwanger said at the event, which according to observers was also attended by AfD supporters, lateral thinkers and right-wing extremists: “We can’t continue to watch how this green-dominated traffic light drives Germany to the wall.” The Greens didn’t want to save the climate, they wanted to destroy property and prosperity.
Aiwanger described the heating law as “madness” and that it had to be “put in the bin.” The economics minister and deputy prime minister thanked the people on site: the ball had been set in motion in Erding, which would pull the rug out from under the feet of this law.
He also criticized the democratically elected government. The Free Voters leader, whose party is at twelve 12 percent according to the latest Bavarian trend, said literally: “Now the point has been reached where the large, silent majority has to take back democracy and say to those in Berlin: ‘Your ass is open up there.’ We want to take back our democracy.”
Aiwanger demands the resignation of the federal government
The consequences of Corona and the Ukraine war have not yet been overcome, and “the next sow is already being driven through the village”. Aiwanger accused the traffic light of wanting to “split this country and drive it to the wall”. He also told the federal government that they should “finally stand by the side of the normal population”. If the government had any decency, it would resign, said the Free Voters boss, who comes from Rottenburg an der Laaber in the Landshut district.
He also spoke of “Berlin chaotics” who wanted to split the country: “Here is the middle of society today. This middle of society will drive these Berlin chaotics before them.” His criticism was also directed at the media, which he believes are “not on the side of ordinary people”. “And I’m fed up when the newspaper opens in the morning and you turn on the radio and all we get is left-green gender gaga.”
The audience – according to the police, around 13,000 people had come to the demo in Erding – gave a lot of approval for the Free Voters boss. While Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) and FDP head of state Martin Hagen were booed over long distances, the crowd cheered – especially when it wasn’t about the heating law but about Aiwanger’s general criticism.
Aiwanger also received approval online – from within his own ranks. His party colleague Fabian Mehring tweeted: “Plain text in Erding: Brilliant performance by Aiwanger. Where he’s right, he’s right, the boss. Like today at Monika Gruber’s demo!”
Cross-party criticism of Aiwanger’s choice of words
SPD and Greens accused Söder and Aiwanger of “destructive populism” and “vote fishing on the right edge”. “No own proposals, instead stir up fears and fish again for votes on the right-hand side: That ultimately pays off for the original,” warned Green Party leader Thomas von Sarnowski on Twitter, for example. Markus Söder was loudly booed when he went on stage. Afterwards, however, he differentiated himself from AfD and “anti-democrats” in his speech.
The SPD-affiliated information portal on right-wing extremism in Bavaria, “Endstation Rechts”, tweeted about the event: “Aiwanger even put his speech under the motto ‘Rescue Democracy’, scolding the media just before ‘Lying Press’. He had no content. Whistles the populist received none.”
Strong criticism comes from CDU politician and member of the European Parliament, Dennis Radtke. He wrote on Twitter: Aiwanger pours gasoline on the fire and will “be complicit if our democracy is undermined and hijacked by populists”. Erding is a low point in the democratic discourse.
Florian Roth, political scientist and Green City Councilor in Munich, uses a quote from former US President Donald Trump in a tweet: “The silent majority is back, and we’re going to take the country back. Donald Trump, Phoenix, 2015 ” and below it: “Now the point has finally been reached where the silent large majority in the country has to take back democracy. Hubert Aiwanger, Erding, 2023.”