Bavaria’s Prime Minister Söder is leaving his deputy Aiwanger in office despite numerous allegations in the affair about an anti-Semitic leaflet. A dismissal would be “disproportionate”. Aiwanger said the “smear campaign” had failed.
Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) is sticking to Deputy Prime Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters). A dismissal from office would be “not proportionate,” he said at a short-term press conference in Munich. Söder decided against the dismissal of Aiwanger demanded by parts of the opposition because of his behavior in connection with an anti-Semitic leaflet from the 1980s.
Söder justified the result of his consideration by saying that there was no evidence that Aiwanger had written or distributed the leaflet criticized. At the same time, the incident was 35 years ago and nothing comparable has become known since then. Aiwanger probably made serious mistakes in his youth and admitted that. He “apologized for it, distanced himself from it and also showed remorse.” Aiwanger’s apology was “late” but “not too late”. The apology was correct and necessary.
At the same time, Söder made it clear that the allegations about the leaflet had harmed Bavaria. At the same time, he criticized his deputy’s crisis communication as “not very happy”. Aiwanger should have cleared up the allegations earlier, more decisively and more comprehensively.
At the same time, he suggested to the leader of the Freie Wahler (Free Voters) that he seek talks with the Jewish community in order to come to terms with the matter and provide evidence of serious remorse. It is important that Aiwanger is now “working to regain lost trust,” said Söder. Before making his decision, he spoke to Josef Schuster and Charlotte Knobloch, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany and the president of the Jewish community in Munich and Upper Bavaria.
Questions and Answers published
The prime minister had previously publicly requested clarification from Aiwanger and sent him a catalog of 25 questions. Söder wanted to make his decision on further steps dependent on their written answer. The Deputy Prime Minister then sent the answers to the Bavarian State Chancellery on Friday. It was eagerly awaited what possible consequences Söder would now draw from the answers in the midst of the ongoing state election campaign.
Both the questions and the answers were published following the press conference. Söder made it clear that Aiwanger had answered all questions. Even if a lot was already known and there was little that was new, Aiwanger made it clear that the events surrounding the leaflet at the time were drastic. Even if not all the answers are satisfactory, he credits Aiwanger with having distanced himself from the leaflet again, said Söder.
Söder wants to continue the coalition with free voters
Based on Aiwanger’s answers and public statements, as well as under the impression of a long personal conversation on Saturday evening, he made his decision, Söder explained. The result is the consideration of a fair and orderly process.
With his decision, the CSU leader also committed to maintaining the coalition with the Free Voters – even after the upcoming state elections. “We will be able to continue the civil coalition in Bavaria,” said Söder. “There will definitely be no black and green in Bavaria.”
Aiwanger: “Dirt campaign failed”
Shortly after Söder’s press conference, Aiwanger himself commented on the events again during an election campaign appearance in a beer tent in Grasbrunn. “It was a dirty mess,” he said. “The Free Voters should be weakened.” But the party was “empowered” by the allegations, he added. His opponents have failed with their “dirty campaign”.
Aiwanger had already emphasized in a newspaper interview yesterday that he saw “no reason at all for resignation or dismissal”. Instead, he called for a return to “daily work for our country.”
Hubert Aiwanger emphasized that he saw no reason for resignation or dismissal.
Aiwanger has been under pressure for days due to allegations
Various allegations had been raised against Aiwanger since last weekend. A week ago on Saturday, he initially denied in writing that he had written an anti-Semitic leaflet during his school days that the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” had reported on. At the same time, however, he admitted that “one or a few copies” had been found in his school bag. Shortly thereafter, Aiwanger’s older brother claimed to have written the pamphlet. Aiwanger apologized publicly for the first time on Thursday. Former classmates have continued to burden Aiwanger in the past few days.