It was just two months ago that Deputy Prime Minister and Hunting Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) called on the notoriously divided Bavarian Hunting Association (BJV) to end the quarrels and discord and pull together. “We can no longer make life difficult for each other,” explained Aiwanger to the applause of the delegates at the BJV State Hunters Day in Weiden. The BJV must be able to act internally and externally. At the same time, Aiwanger announced that he would invite the opposing parties to a discussion. The meeting will take place this Thursday at the Ministry of Economics. According to the invitation, Aiwanger scheduled two hours for this.
The debate may be more necessary than ever. There is no trace of the unity that Aiwanger demanded of the hunters at the State Hunters’ Day in Weiden. On the contrary. The disputes, which are primarily about the leadership style of the hunter president and CSU politician Ernst Weidenbusch and his followers in the presidium, have escalated further. The current issue is the exclusion of the Neuburg an der Donau hunting protection association from the BJV in mid-April. A number of hunters speak of an “unprecedented act of arbitrariness”. A two-page letter is circulating in the BJV, which calls for disciplinary proceedings within the association against Weidenbusch and the BJV vice-president and free voter politician Roland Weigert. The two are considered the driving force behind the exclusion. The spicy thing: Weigert is a member of the Neuburg Hunting Protection Association.
The reason for the Neuburg Hunting Protection Association being expelled from the BJV is its new statutes or a small passage in it, which states that the Hunting Protection Association can also be a member of clubs and organizations other than the BJV if its members want it. “We wanted to give ourselves the opportunity to cooperate even better with partners than we already do,” says the chairwoman of the Neuburg Hunting Protection Association, Christine Liepelt. “That’s nothing special at all, many hunting clubs have such wording in their statutes.” The passage is also unproblematic in terms of association law, especially since a lawyer was specifically involved in it. Internally, the new statutes are also undisputed. The only member of the Neuburger Jäger who took exception to her was BJV vice-president Weigert.
From the perspective of the BJV leadership, the Neuburger Jäger have put their “membership in the BJV up for discussion” with the change in the statutes. You can read about it in a report from the BJV. It also states that this contradicts the statutes of the BJV. BJV vice-president Weigert therefore calls the exclusion “no alternative”. “Anyone who knowingly and willingly accepts a break with the association despite repeated references to the consequences under association law must bear the consequences,” he says. The Neuburg club boss Liepelt categorically rejects the allegations and still sees herself and her club as members of the BJV – simply because “we never wanted to leave the BJV,” as she says.
The critics speak of shouting attacks and excessive threats
Since Weidenbusch was elected BJV president in December 2020, the association has been sinking into a constant internal clinch. The critics accuse the president and his closest entourage of shouting attacks, excessive threats and arbitrary bans from the BJV office in Feldkirchen. There are also reports of layoffs, some of long-standing employees who, in their words, no longer want to tolerate Weidenbusch’s behavior. In addition, a number of hunters have apparently left the BJV due to dissatisfaction with the leadership. And compared to other organizations, the forest owners’ association or the farmers’ association, for example, the BJV is considered completely isolated. According to his own statements, he represents around 50,000 hunters. And despite all the arguments, Weidenbusch and his team have always been able to hold their own, even if only just.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs is not responding to inquiries about the current crisis meeting between Aiwanger and the BJV representatives. BJV President Weidenbusch, on the other hand, welcomes the initiative of the Vice Prime Minister, who is considered his most prominent supporter in hunter circles. “Only together and without personal animosity and vendettas can those involved in the association be the important representation of interests for Bavaria’s hunting community, which is heard and respected in politics and the public,” Weidenbusch told the dpa news agency. “In this respect, we assume that we will be able to constructively resolve all differences and look forward to the technical input of everyone involved.”