She is considered the “nice one” from next door, the down-to-earth one, without any attitudes. A woman who mixes with people without shyness, shakes hands and can also hug people. What is often overlooked is that no one in politics gets to the highest office because he or she is simply “nice”.
The office of Federal Consumer Protection Minister is considered one of the most thankless. When Ilse Aigner took over this position in the Merkel cabinet in 2008, she had no time to breathe. One crisis follows the next: EHEC on sprouts, dioxin in eggs, horse meat in lasagna.
Close to life, pragmatic and down to earth
In such crises it is important to manage them. Aigner ensures consequences, negotiates at EU level, regulates compensation payments for farmers. Nevertheless, she calls the opposition “announcement minister”. Aigner survives the food scandals - ministers have already had to resign because of less.
When there is no crisis, Aigner carries out her duties as Federal Consumer Protection Minister in a realistic, pragmatic and down-to-earth manner. At Aigner, “too good for the bin” means: If you have stale bread at home, you can either freeze it or use it to make a “bread roll” with eggs and milk. In political Berlin they laugh at the Bavarian because of such tips.
Her first political success was a disco bus
The 61-year-old's political interest was awakened in the family. There was always a lot of discussion and the parents encouraged social engagement. The father was a master electrician and sat for the CSU on the local council in Feldkirchen-Westerham in Upper Bavaria.
When he quit, she became a local councilor in 1990: "We basically handed over the office to each other," says Aigner. Their first political success was to get a disco bus from the villages to Rosenheim. The older people on the local council say that the young people should just stay at home. The “Rosenheim Night Express” still exists today.
The Aigners have four girls, Ilse is the youngest. To this day she still talks about her “big sisters.” Little Ilse's interest in technology developed early. Later she asks herself whether this would have been the case if she had had a brother. Maybe Grandpa would have been more likely to use it to repair things, she speculates.
Not a classic career
Aigner did not have a traditional political career with a high school diploma and a law degree. Like some of the previous federal presidents, she does not come from traditional families like the von Weizsäckers. The fact that voices came from the CDU in the summer that at least one lawyer was needed at the head of the state was also aimed at them. Aigner remained silent about this.
Just like she remained silent about the speculations the whole time. Since Bavaria's Prime Minister and CSU leader Markus Söder officially brought her into conversation for the first time in the spring, her answer has always been: "There are worse things than being considered suitable."
Seehofer's "Crown Princess"
In her life, Aigner has experienced what it's like not to get an office. In 1994 she entered the Bavarian state parliament together with Söder. While Söder is considered Edmund Stoiber's foster son, she is called the "crown princess" by Horst Seehofer.
He plays with the competition from the boys. When Aigner Seehofer succeeded as Federal Minister of Agriculture in Berlin in 2008, the then CSU leader joked to the assembled press that she could now take his place: "But that doesn't mean anything!"
As Bavarian Prime Minister, Seehofer brought Aigner back to Bavaria in 2013 and made her Economics Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. It would be a good starting position to inherit Seehofer in 2018.
Aigner and Söder play with their competition
By this time, however, Söder had long since established his networks in the CSU, and his interest in power was visible to everyone. Aigner promotes himself in a roundabout way. She wants to carry out a member survey in the party about the successor. The plan fails. Söder becomes Prime Minister and she becomes President of the State Parliament.
They remain competitors. At some point, however, Söder and Aigner decide to play with it in public, showing themselves in photos back to back with their arms crossed.
No quarter from the AfD
Aigner is not an intellectual pioneer of the CSU. But she is popular in the party. As President of the State Parliament, she will gain more and more non-partisan respect from 2018 onwards. There is only one party where Aigner shows no quarter. She turns the microphone away from the AfD parliamentary group leader in the state parliament when Katrin Ebner-Steiner does not adhere to parliament's customs.
The state parliament president Aigner finds her role. She seeks dialogue with citizens, talks about cohesion in society, about the value of democracy, travels to Srebrenica, hugs the mothers of the murdered.
All of these would also be the tasks of a Federal President. If Ilse Aigner is actually elected by the Federal Assembly as the first woman to the highest state office at the end of January, she will be prepared. She has completed enough presidential tasks.
