Söder: Aiwanger stays for the time being and is supposed to answer 25 questions about the leaflet affair

Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) increased the pressure on his deputy Hubert Aiwanger in the affair about an anti-Semitic leaflet. The free voter boss should answer a catalog with 25 questions in writing, said Söder after deliberations in the coalition committee on Tuesday in Munich. Aiwanger promised to answer the questions. He initially did not give a deadline for answering the questions.

Only then can the case be finally assessed, said Söder. A dismissal from the office of economics minister and deputy prime minister would be “excessive” at this point in time, according to the CSU boss. Söder has also clearly committed to the coalition with the Free Voters. “The cooperation with the Free Voters as a whole has proven itself and is good, and we want to continue it. There is also no reason to change anything about the cooperation.” Coalitions do not depend on a single person either, emphasized Söder.

However, Söder sees Bavaria’s reputation damaged by the affair. “The suspicion alone damages Bavaria’s reputation and of course the personal credibility of the Bavarian Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger,” he said. The damage to Bavaria’s reputation is already high.

Söder convened a special meeting of the committee on Tuesday, where Aiwanger was supposed to comment personally on the allegations. On Saturday evening, the 52-year-old denied in writing that he had written an anti-Semitic leaflet when he was at school in the 1980s, which the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” reported on.

Leaflet affair about Aiwanger shortly before state election explosive

At the same time, however, he admitted that “one or a few copies” were found in his school bag. Shortly thereafter, Aiwanger’s older brother admitted to having written the pamphlet. He later said he believed his brother Hubert wanted to collect the trowels again. So far, however, these explanations have not been sufficient.

A new state parliament will be elected in Bavaria on October 8th. The CSU had always stated that it wanted to continue the coalition with the Free Voters after the election. All the polls up to the end left almost no doubt that this will be possible – with the free voters being between 11 and 14 percent. The CSU has governed the Free State since 2018 together with the Free Voters.

The CSU state parliament basically wanted to continue the coalition on Tuesday. A black-green alliance was ruled out during online consultations of the extended CSU parliamentary group executive on Tuesday morning, as the German press agency learned from participants. However, there was also a call for further clarification in the round.

Note: This article has been updated several times.