During the traditional closing words before Parliament’s Christmas break, the President of the Bavarian State Parliament, Ilse Aigner (CSU), called on MPs to show decency and verbal moderation. “I never tire of insisting – especially not now before Christmas – that we remain decent despite the severity of the matter. That we maintain the style among Democrats and the dignity of the house,” said Aigner at the last session of the state parliament before the holidays. Sedition is “not socially acceptable, not acceptable.” You first had to learn that “being democratically elected and being a democrat are not always the same thing.”
In her speech, Aigner also spoke of the “very heated election campaign” that the Free State of Bavaria had experienced. And in her speech at the opening of parliament at the end of October, she warned that state politics had to get out of the beer tent mode again. But this passage in the Christmas speech is unmistakably a dig against the AfD, which emerged stronger from the state elections in October and which is being monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as an entire state association – in order to clarify in which direction the party is moving and what influence extremist currents within it are have AfD.
As in the past five years, the AfD parliamentary group started the new electoral period with scandals. There is, for example, the hustle and bustle surrounding the 22-year-old AfD MP Daniel Halemba, who is being investigated by the Würzburg public prosecutor’s office for alleged right-wing extremist activities and against whom even the AfD federal executive committee now wants to expel him from the party. This was also announced on Tuesday. There have also been verbal gaffes within a few weeks of this election period; in November, an AfD speaker spoke of a “small enabling law” when the rules of procedure were changed to the detriment of his party.
As the strongest opposition force – with 14.6 percent in the election, just ahead of the Greens – the AfD is allowed to speak at ceremonial occasions such as the closing words, which often focus on the value of democracy; In this format, only one speech from the opposition is planned, namely that of the strongest force. AfD parliamentary group leader Katrin Ebner-Steiner had a premiere on Tuesday. And she used the stage for exactly the scandal that was generally expected.
“Population collapse”: AfD parliamentary group leader Ebner-Steiner during her closing remarks in parliament.
(Photo: Sven Hoppe/dpa)
Instead of contemplative or state-supporting words, she spoke of “population collapse” and that the “signs of decline were visible everywhere.” While people are busy with “being woke” and “climate religion,” the country is being “overrun by social activists.” And there is an “obscene subjugation” towards migrants and Islam. At least the AfD woman contributed something to the actual occasion: Ebner-Steiner sees the Christmas story as “the self-assertion of a culture threatened with extinction.” You have to find your way back to yourself, to Christian German culture, “with love and pride.”
“What kind of drugs do you take?”
Aigner then referred to the good tradition of finding conciliatory words at the end of the year – a very elegantly worded rebuke. Many MPs in the room accepted Ebner-Steiner’s speech with bewilderment, and some left the room. An interjection from the ranks of the Greens: “What kind of drugs are you taking?” Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), right after the AfD parliamentary group leader, said that he had been sitting in the state parliament since 1994 and had heard great, demanding final words from the opposition. “This House has never experienced anything so conspiracy-theoretical, absurd, convoluted and embarrassing.”
In his speech, Söder did not fail to demonstratively mention that after the election a state government was formed within four weeks “without any background noise” – “in difficult times when democracy often no longer produces solutions.” However, there is no reason to be afraid. Politics is not about describing problems, but about tackling them and holding the country together. To do this, you don’t need “end-of-the-world prophecy from the right wing” – Söder looked to the AfD – and also not – looking to the Greens – the claim to “educate people”. There is hardly a country in the world where life is more beautiful than in Germany, and the most beautiful in Bavaria. You need “strength, the right cross” and “the courage to tackle the issues”.
Söder also warned against abandoning Ukraine; it was also defending Europe. And he invoked Israel’s right to self-defense. That’s why his trip to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv from this Wednesday was deliberately chosen.
In her speech, State Parliament President Aigner also recalled the difficult political circumstances in the country. “One thing is certain: our twenties have not been golden at all so far. And for many people it’s just too much.” In the past, closing words were often humorous, but this doesn’t really fit now. Politics must make a contribution to many questions about the future in a “courageous and visionary, but absolutely feasible, implementable and effective” way. “2024 must be a year of results.”
Parliament will go into Christmas vacation after the end of this plenary week. After Epiphany, specialist committees will meet again; the next full session of the state parliament is scheduled for January 24th.