Bavaria’s Deputy Prime Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) is still under pressure from his coalition partner CSU in the dispute over statements critical of the vaccination. The Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) called Aiwanger’s statements on Monday in the ARD “Morgenmagazin” “fatal”.
CSU parliamentary group leader Thomas Kreuzer told the “Münchner Merkur”, according to a preliminary announcement, that Aiwanger operated “cheap calculation” for the election campaign. Despite the dispute, Aiwanger himself, according to his own words, does not fear a break in the coalition with the CSU.
In the “Morgenmagazin”, Holetschek referred to the prominent position of Aiwanger through his political office and the resulting strong public perception. “I wish that sometimes you would think carefully about what to say and what not to say”. Aiwanger, who is also the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs, thwarted all efforts of the state government in the vaccination campaign, said Holetschek.
Kreuzer went a step further and said Aiwanger must “consider whether he can remain deputy prime minister”. He thwarted “against the advice of all experts our vaccination campaign in order to get points in the federal election campaign with vaccination refusals”.
He does not understand “what the Deputy Prime Minister is doing here,” said Kreuzer. “If he doesn’t want to be vaccinated himself, that’s his private matter – politically, however, everyone in this government should be aware that we can only get out of the pandemic with a good vaccination rate.”
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Bavaria, the second largest state in terms of population, lags behind when compared to the other federal states. As of Monday, 59.5 percent of the population had been vaccinated in Bavaria when they were first vaccinated, but 65.1 percent in the most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the national average 61.7 percent. Fully vaccinated in Bavaria 50.3 percent of the population, in North Rhine-Westphalia 53.9 percent and the national average 52.3 percent.
Despite public pressure from the CSU, the chairman of the Free Voters refuses to be vaccinated against the corona virus. Most recently, he justified this with reports of massive side effects also in his circle of friends, but without elaborating on this.
Despite the dispute, Aiwanger is not afraid that the CSU will end the coalition
Aiwanger had said he would wait to vaccinate until he was convinced that vaccination would make more sense for him personally than staying unvaccinated. From his private environment, he had heard of vaccine side effects that “keep the spit away”.
In addition, he recently warned on Deutschlandfunk against a “hunt” for unvaccinated people. The citizens had to be convinced “without pressure” and with facts. So far, they have “partly not unjustifiably unsettled,” he said – and named the Astrazeneca vaccine in this context.
The “Passauer Neue Presse” and the “Donaukurier” on Monday told Aiwanger that, despite the dispute, he was not afraid that the CSU would end the coalition. “The CSU would damage itself to the core – they should be happy that they have such a decent and honest coalition partner in the Free Voters.”
Aiwanger, who was nominated as the top candidate for the Free Voters for the Bundestag election, now also wants to score points with a second vote campaign against the CSU in the Bundestag election. “Actually, the CSU should run a second vote campaign for the Free Voters in the Bundestag election so that they and the state are spared the Greens in the government in Berlin,” he told the two newspapers.
The dispute between Söder and Aiwanger intensifies
Aiwanger recommended to his Bavarian coalition partner that the federal government should build on the fact that the CSU direct candidates would get their first vote in the Bundestag anyway, “with the second vote, free voters – then they will come in too, and we can work together in Berlin for Bavaria and Germany “.
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Before that, the dispute between Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder and his Vice Hubert Aiwanger about corona vaccinations became more acute. Söder renewed his criticism of Aiwanger’s vaccination argumentation on Sunday in the ZDF summer interview – who then countered sharply, accused the CSU chairman of a deliberate false assertion and spoke of “insolence”.
Söder said of Aiwanger’s demonstrative doubts about corona vaccinations: “My concern is that he will maneuver himself into a corner that he cannot get out of himself.” is.
Söder emphasized that it was not about the question of whether Aiwanger wanted to be vaccinated or not, everyone was free to do so. But the sound and the speech behind it are problematic: when Aiwanger talks about side effects that he “doesn’t spit”, or when he says, for example, that it has not been proven whether the vaccines are effective. “You have to be careful,” said Söder.
Aiwanger said of the German Press Agency: “It is a deliberate false claim that I said that it had not been proven whether vaccines work. On the contrary, I said that vaccination is an important component in the fight against Corona, but it must remain voluntary. “
In addition, Söder said Aiwanger used the same choice of words as AfD top candidate Alice Weidel. He warned Aiwanger, who is also the Free Voters’ lead candidate for the September 26th Bundestag election, to fish for votes “on some edge”. “This is a total fallacy. In the end, people choose the right “lateral thinkers”. “
But if Aiwanger goes near them, he has to be careful not to be identified as such. “And then it really becomes difficult.”
Aiwanger said: “It is outrageous to want to label myself as a“ lateral thinker ”because I am against the compulsory vaccination and demand more sensitivity when it comes to vaccinating under 12-year-olds, which Stiko has not yet recommended.”
However, Söder pointed out that Aiwanger had so far supported every decision on the anti-corona measures in the Bavarian cabinet. He therefore sees no reason to dismiss Aiwanger from the cabinet. In addition, he has the feeling that the Free Voters themselves are “very unhappy with his statements”. He now wants to give the party time to reflect on the situation to a certain extent. The reaction of the economy, which has clearly opposed Aiwanger, is also remarkable. (AFP, dpa)
