Election campaign in Bavaria
“Hampel-Ampel”: Söder and Merz share against the federal government at Gillamoos
The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder and Friedrich Merz, Federal Chairman of the CDU, hold together at Gillamoos, a political morning pint in Bavaria
© Sven Hoppe / DPA
Marquee, beer, and violent attacks: At the folk festival in Gillamoos, Lower Bavaria, Söder and Aiwanger are silent about the leaflet affair. On the other hand, they have a lot to say about the traffic light policy in Berlin – because the election campaign is on in Bavaria.
Verbal attacks on political opponents and further debates about the leaflet affair: One day after Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) decided to leave his deputy and Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) in office despite the leaflet affair, it rained political morning pint at the folk festival Gillamoos in Lower Bavaria allegations.
At a joint beer tent appearance with CDU leader Friedrich Merz, Söder was silent in his speech on the Aiwanger cause. Meanwhile, Merz praised him for dealing with the affair. Söder had had a damn difficult task in the past few days, and he solved it brilliantly, Merz said when he met the Bavarian Prime Minister in Abensberg: “Very good, it was the right thing to do.”
Before the upcoming state elections on October 8, Aiwanger did not address the issue either. In his acclaimed speech on Monday, the traffic light parties in Berlin in particular attacked and warned of a political division in Germany.
Aiwanger warns against the traffic light coalition at Gillamoos
“This country is currently being deeply divided politically to the point of being unable to govern,” said Aiwanger. As an example, he cited surveys in eastern Germany, in which “fringe parties” received more than 50 percent of the votes. “Then democracy is in grave danger,” said Aiwanger. His party therefore wants to make “an offer of sensible politics” to voters in the center.
Merz and Söder also attacked the traffic light government with sharp words in their speeches at the halfway point in the legislative period. “We are determined to do better than this government in two years at the latest,” said Merz. Germany deserves a better government. “We have a shortage of skilled workers primarily in the federal government – and not among the engineers in Germany.” Merz accused the SPD, Greens and FDP, among other things, of making serious mistakes in energy and migration policy. He criticized the shutdown of three functioning nuclear power plants as “stupidity” and “nonsense”.
Söder said: “The Hampel traffic light is the worst government that Germany has ever had.” There is “back and forth week after week,” he said. After the 2025 federal election, the Union will replace the traffic light, Söder predicted optimistically. “The traffic light will no longer be successful as a government in 2025. We will replace it together.”
SPD and Greens criticize Söder for dealing with the leaflet affair
The leaflet affair played a role above all in the SPD and the Greens. Aiwanger behaves indecently, criticized SPD federal leader Lars Klingbeil. The political discourse would be shifted, “because decency is disappearing from politics,” he said. He accused Söder of selfishness: “He only looks at himself, but not at this state,” said Klingbeil.
“The mere appearance of anti-Semitism in the state government damages the motivation for our actions,” said the top candidate of the Bavarian Greens, Ludwig Hartmann. “Populism is the enemy of our democracy.”
Aiwanger left the issue of the leaflet affair to other representatives of his party. The parliamentary secretary, Fabian Mehring, described the allegations as a campaign “with the aim of paving the way for traffic lights”. The opposition “wanted to drag the Vice Prime Minister into the dirt for tactical reasons”.
The Gillamoos is a fun fair with a folk festival that always takes place at the beginning of September. The event in the district of Kelheim has a tradition going back more than 700 years and is known nationwide for the political speeches on the last day of the festival.