According to a guest article in stern
Advance on AfD posts sparks heated debate
Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) does not see a parliamentary majority for an AfD politician in the parliamentary presidium
© Photo booth / Reuhl/ / Picture Alliance
Should the AfD be granted a deputy position in the Bundestag presidency? The members of the other parliamentary groups have so far rejected this. Now the discussion is picking up speed again.
It’s a symbolic and sensitive question: Should the AfD be represented in the important parliamentary presidium? Since entering the Bundestag in 2017, the right-wing populists are the only faction that has never been part of the body that, for example, oversees the rules of conduct in the House. All AfD candidates failed to achieve the required majority, most recently Jörg Schneider failed in September due to the blockade of the Bundestag members.
Christoph Ploß has now initiated the debate again. The CDU MP complains in a guest article for the star an erosion of parliamentary rights – and is open to granting the party a deputy position. “The unfortunately now common practice in the German Bundestag of keeping the AfD out of the actually cross-party presidium of the Bundestag fills me with concern,” writes Ploß. Read the entire guest article here. His argument: If you don’t take your own rules of procedure, which in principle provide for at least one vice-president position for each parliamentary group, seriously, it can damage the legitimacy and credibility of the Bundestag as an institution.
Very close
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The move startled parliament and was controversially discussed. Ploß knew that a vice president needed the majority of the Bundestag to be elected, said Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP). star. In his opinion, this will not exist. “Even in the Union he is alone with this view,” said the FDP vice-chairman. Ploß was the Hamburg CDU state chairman until April 2023 and is considered a representative of the more conservative wing of his party.
In fact, his own Union faction also reacted negatively to the move. “The AfD is, at least in part, a right-wing extremist party that is hostile to our constitutional order,” said Parliamentary Managing Director Hendrik Hoppenstedt to the “RND”. The deputy positions would be elected by the Bundestag in a free and secret ballot; all AfD candidates have so far fallen far short of the required majority “for good reasons”. Hoppenstedt: “Every member of parliament has to weigh up the pros and cons of an election for themselves. I do not support Christoph Ploß’s proposal.”
Heated discussion about AfD position in the Bundestag presidency
The Bundestag Presidium has a great influence on the processes in the Bundestag, is responsible for the personnel matters of the Bundestag administration, approval of delegation trips or monitoring and compliance with the rules of conduct. The Presidium consists of the President (Bärbel Bas, SPD) and her deputies. According to custom, all political groups are represented in the committee – with the exception of the AfD, which is criticized for being excluded.
Against this background, the “very fundamental” decision by Thuringia’s Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow caused a stir to clear the way for an AfD state parliament vice-president with his vote. The left-wing politician explained his decision in March 2020 with the “parliamentary participation that must be granted to every faction”.
Bundestag member Kassem Taher Saleh (Greens) cannot imagine voting for an AfD candidate. “Democracy does not automatically mean a free pass for right-wing extremists,” he told the star. The freedom of the mandate requires that all MPs follow their conscience when elected to the presidency and ask themselves whether someone from the AfD parliamentary group can adequately represent the dignity of the House. “Anyone who leads a parliamentary debate must have the necessary neutrality and prudence. I don’t trust anyone in the AfD to do that,” said Taher Saleh. It is clear to him that he will only elect people to the Presidium who “have both feet on the ground of our free-democratic basic order.”
The SPD parliamentary group manager Katja Mast also firmly rejects a Bundestag vice-president from the AfD. “Once again the CDU is adopting all of the AfD’s arguments,” said the First Parliamentary Managing Director to “Spiegel”. Mast said that the election of a Bundestag deputy is a democratic process. “A decision in which the MPs ask themselves whether they want to be represented by right-wing extremist candidates. Fortunately, the majority of the Bundestag sees it differently than the CDU MP from Hamburg,” said the Social Democrat.