leaflet affair
After Aiwanger’s decision: no return to everyday politics
Hubert Aiwanger apologized – but at the same time went on to counterattack. photo
© Matthias Balk/dpa
Bavaria’s Prime Minister Söder has decided: his deputy remains in office. But this does not mean a return to everyday life. The elections will soon take place – and today there will soon be a fierce exchange of blows.
After the decision of Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) for his deputy to remain Hubert Aiwanger in office, there can be no talk of a return to everyday political life.
The criticism is widespread, and just one day after the announcement of Söder’s vote, the political opponents get a big podium today: A good month before the state elections, the parties are warming up for the final sprint at the traditional political exchange of blows at the Gillamoos fair in Lower Bavaria. The leaflet affair about Free Voters chief Aiwanger is likely to be one of the defining issues.
What’s coming up today
CSU boss Söder comes to the beer tent battle in Abensberg in the Kelheim district and is accompanied by CDU chairman Friedrich Merz. Economics Minister Aiwanger himself has been announced for the Free Voters. His appearance should be watched with excitement because Söder now expects humility from him and that he is looking for dialogue with the Jewish communities.
The SPD sends its federal chairman Lars Klingbeil into the race. For the Greens, it is the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann. The FDP has announced Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki. The AfD offers party leader Alice Weidel.
What the critics say
The criticism has continued since Söder’s decision. For SPD chairwoman Saskia Esken, this is “a fatal signal” and grist to the mill of those who play down the Nazi era, anti-Semitism and racism, as she told the “Rheinische Post”. “Not only the possible behavior of Hubert Aiwanger in his youth, but above all the way he deals with it today clearly shows to me that he is unsuitable to take on responsibility in a government.”
The parliamentary group leader of the Greens, Britta Haßelmann, wrote on the Internet platform X, formerly Twitter: “With his decision to Aiwanger, Markus Soeder opted for tactics instead of attitude.” For Bavaria’s Greens parliamentary group leader Katharina Schulze, “something has slipped in dealing with the culture of remembrance”, Söder is also responsible for that. “Anyone who now says something anti-Semitic in the future can actually refer to the deputy prime minister in Bavaria,” she said in the ZDF “Heute Journal”.
The long-standing head of the Center for Anti-Semitism Research at the Technical University of Berlin, Wolfgang Benz, called Söder’s decision “devastating”. “I would dismiss this anti-Semitic leaflet and Aiwanger’s obviously right-wing extremist activities as youthful sins if he had made a clear statement about it and expressed his shame,” he told the editorial network Germany.
What Aiwanger is accused of
A week ago, according to a report in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Aiwanger was suspected of having written an anti-Semitic leaflet as a student in the 1980s. He denied this but admitted that one or a few specimens had been found in his pocket. His brother then accused himself of being the author. As a result, however, more and more accusations were raised, partly anonymously, about Aiwanger’s political behavior at the time. After several days, he apologized on Thursday, but at the same time went on the counterattack and lamented a political campaign against himself.
Why Söder made the decision
Söder said yesterday that a dismissal would not have been proportionate. He criticized the crisis management of his deputy. He should have clarified the allegations earlier, more decisively and more comprehensively. His apology and distancing came late, but not too late, said the CSU boss and demanded that Aiwanger now have to regain lost trust, for example in talks with Jewish communities. At the same time, he emphasized that he would stick to the coalition with the Free Voters even after the October 8 election. “There will definitely be no black and green in Bavaria.”
Söder rejected speculations that he acted this way out of fear of voters showing solidarity with Aiwanger. “Fear is not a benchmark for me,” he said in the ZDF summer interview. “I just wanted fairness.”