Federal Constitutional Court
Zoff about committees in the Bundestag – AfD complains in Karlsruhe
The AfD deputy and police chief commissioner Martin Hess wanted to become head of the interior committee in the Bundestag, but fell through a vote
© Stefan Puchner / DPA
The AfD simply does not manage to get its candidates through as committee chairmen in the Bundestag. An affront from the parliamentary group’s point of view – and a reason for a lawsuit in Karlsruhe.
Since the AfD has been in the Bundestag, there have been repeated disputes about the work in parliament. Now the composition of the committees has become a case for the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. Because so far the alternative for Germany has been left empty-handed, which annoys them – especially since the chief posts of the committees were otherwise awarded in turn and without major votes between the parliamentary groups.
On Thursday it became known that the parliamentary group of the party, which had 10.3 percent of the vote in the most recent parliamentary election, is suing the Federal Constitutional Court. The parliamentarians want to defend themselves against the failure to fill committee chairs in the Bundestag with candidates from their party.
AfD sees equality in the Bundestag disregarded
The group saw its “right to equal and fair participation in parliament” disregarded because its candidates for the chairmanship of three committees had failed in the elections on December 15, the group announced in Berlin in the afternoon. This is a “violation of the constitutionally anchored principles of democracy”.
In Karlsruhe, on December 31, a so-called organ dispute procedure with an associated urgent application was initiated, the parliamentary group said. When a decision can be expected, according to the assessment of parliamentary groups, was still completely open.
The interior committee had rejected the police chief inspector Martin Hess as chairman. The candidates Jörg Schneider and Dietmar Friedhoff, who were also nominated by the AfD, failed in the health committee and in the committee for development cooperation. Previously, contrary to the usual procedure, it had been decided to decide on the chair in a secret ballot.
Usually the committee chief posts are simply distributed in turn
The chairmanship of the committees is usually assigned according to a certain mechanism: the largest group may choose a committee first, then the second largest, the third largest, and so on. This goes on over several rounds until the chairs of the committees are distributed.
So the AfD originally came to the Interior, Health and Development Committee. Usually the chairmen are seated without a vote. According to the AfD candidates in the constituent meetings of the committees in December, members of other parliamentary groups then requested votes on the chairmanship.
AfD parliamentary group justiciary Stephan Brandner has therefore now complained that his parliamentary group had “been excluded from appropriate participation in central bodies with trickery and blockades in violation of decades of practice and binding agreements.” As a result, his parliamentary group is “clearly discriminated against in the committee work that is central to all legislative procedures”. Brandner expressed the hope “that the Federal Constitutional Court will intervene quickly and not postpone a decision as in other proceedings”.
Head of the Interior Committee is considered a sensitive issue
In the complaint, the AfD parliamentary group asks the Karlsruhe court to ensure that the candidates named by the AfD can exercise their “rights and duties as committee chairmen” from the next committee meeting on January 12, 2022. The complaint speaks of a “Coup d’État (German: Putsch) against parliamentary protection of minorities”.
In the previous legislative period, the AfD was able to occupy the committee posts due to it – its candidates were elected by the committee members. The fact that she was denied the chairmanship in the newly elected Bundestag was justified by representatives of the other parliamentary groups, above all with their concern about a chairman in the Interior Committee provided by the AfD.
This committee has access to sensitive security information and is in contact with the security authorities, including the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. In some federal states, parts of the AfD are under surveillance by the authorities because of suspicion of extremism.
See a video from our archive: The AfD received 52 percent of the first votes in Dorfchemnitz, Saxony. In doing so, they set a national record. Originally, the region was firmly in CDU hands. NTV reporter Luisa Graf tries to explain.