Politics in Bavaria: Aiwanger does not understand criticism of speech by US Vice President Vance

SZ.de Politics in Bavaria: Aiwanger does not understand criticism of speech by US Vice President Vance 23 hours • 2 minutes reading time The head of the Free Voters and Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger criticizes the politicians who were outraged by the statements of US Vice President J. D. Vance. US Vice President J. D. Vance caused a lot of indignation and outrage with his controversial speech in Munich. In Bavaria, however, a politician in the election campaign cannot understand this. Aiwanger does not understand criticism of speech by US Vice President Vance The head of the Free Voters Hubert Aiwanger cannot understand the great excitement and outrage over the speech by US Vice President J. D. Vance at the Munich Security Conference. "But my dear people, if you can't stand that, then you are not particularly capable of criticism," Aiwanger said on X. Vance's core message was that those in power in a democracy must also tolerate uncomfortable opinions and must not suppress them. "What you obviously cannot and do not want to do, as your offended reactions show." Aiwanger addressed his criticism directly to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (both SPD), MEP Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (FDP) and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) and their "great outrage" in keeping with the current election campaign. At the same time, he accused the aforementioned of "apparently not wanting to hear" Vance's criticism of uncontrolled immigration. On Friday, Vance accused the European allies of restricting freedom of expression and endangering democracy. Among other things, he criticized the exclusion of the AfD and BSW from the security conference and generally opposed the exclusion of parties: "There is no room for firewalls." At the same time, he announced that Europe must increasingly take care of its own security. As a result, a large number of speakers at the security conference criticized the speech - Scholz, Pistorius, Habeck and CDU leader Merz categorically rejected the US attempt to influence German domestic politics and the upcoming federal election. For Aiwanger, this is obviously no reason to worry or even get upset: "In the next few years, you will have to listen to a lot more from the US that you cannot report to a reporting office. And we will not be able to sulk about the Americans' military commitment to Europe. That is the bitter truth."