Aigner Cancels AfD Meeting as Presidential Candidate Faces Criticism

Ilse Aigner federal president candidacy and AfD invitation dispute, Digi Mart USA News: Ilse Aigner wants to act as a reconciler as federal president, but before the election she already faces the question of how far that aspiration reaches. During her introductory round in the Bundestag, two parliamentary groups were left out.

The Left party never invited Aigner, and she cancelled her meeting with the AfD.

FOCUS Online chief correspondent Ulrich Reitz compares the situation to football in his “Reitz-Thema” segment. “It is as if you miss the first penalty you ever take in your life.”

Aigner’s office justified the cancellation with a post on X by AfD lawmaker Beatrix von Storch. In it, she wrote that Aigner is a woman, that Markus Söder wants to get rid of her from Bavaria, and that she is left-leaning enough to be elected by the SPD as well.

The post ends with the words: “This is how the highest state office is filled in Germany. That is a sign of bankruptcy.”

Reitz sees no reason to cancel the conversation because of criticism of the nomination process. “The AfD did not personally belittle Ms.

Aigner.”

In his view, during a visit Aigner could have addressed the tone of the post and asked the parliamentary group what it understands by the German nation and which interests Germany should pursue toward Ukraine and within the EU.

After her nomination, Aigner described herself as the “candidate of the strong center.” Reitz considers the description accurate given the support from the CDU/CSU, SPD and Greens. For the office itself, he applies the standard set by former federal president Johannes Rau.

“If you take office with Johannes Rau’s idea that you want to reconcile rather than divide, then you have to talk with everyone.”

Reitz sees dealing with the political fringes as a task for the head of state. This includes engaging with the issues that move voters of the AfD and the Left.

His criticism of Aigner’s cancellation is accordingly sharp.

“If you do not go, you let a chance slip by and you send a signal that your understanding of the office is reduced to the political understanding of the parties of the center. And with that you exclude 40 percent of voters.

That need not be considered clever.”

Commentary by Ulrich Reitz: Solitary without a killer instinct: Germany needs Ilse Aigner