In the upcoming coalition negotiations, the FDP wants to campaign for the deletion of criminal law paragraph 219a, which makes advertising for abortion a punishable offense. “As Free Democrats in the German Bundestag, we are fighting for the abolition of Section 219a StGB,” said the health and legal expert of the FDP parliamentary group, Katrin Helling-Plahr, the editorial network Germany (RND). “Of course we will also advocate this in coalition negotiations.” The goal should be easier to achieve in talks with the SPD than with the Union. At the beginning of 2019, the Social Democrats had already tried to delete the passage from the law, but in the end had to give in to a compromise with the CDU and CSU.
“The number of abortion sites is falling dramatically and rapidly,” said Helling-Plahr. That must alarm politics at all levels. Even the currently ruling grand coalition does not rule out the fact that the legal stigmatization of legal abortions by Paragraph 219a may contribute to this development, said the member of the Bundestag, citing the response from the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs to a request from her parliamentary group. “Factual information on a doctor’s homepage about a legal medical intervention must not be a criminal injustice,” said the MP, referring to the case of the Giessen general practitioner Kristina Hänel, who had been sentenced to a fine on the basis of Section 219a. (10/01/2021)
Merz suggests renouncing the candidacy for parliamentary group leader
The CDU politician Friedrich Merz has indicated that he will not be able to run for chairmanship in the coming year. Should the Union go into the opposition, he would advise putting the office of party and parliamentary group leader in one hand, the newly elected member of the Bundestag told the newspapers of the Funke media group. At the same time, however, Merz said: “I have applied twice for the party chairmanship, each with the support of an overwhelming majority of the CDU members, who are still unbroken. Nevertheless, the party congress decided twice differently. My need for controversial votes against the establishment is covered . ” He is now preparing to be “a normal and hopefully good MP”.
The term of office of the newly elected CDU / CSU parliamentary group leader, Ralph Brinkhaus, ends at the end of April. Merz as well as Health Minister Jens Spahn and foreign politician Norbert Röttgen (all CDU) have so far been considered candidates for the post if the Union cannot form a Jamaica government.
At the same time, Merz sharply criticized the Union’s election campaign, which lacked topics and a media strategy. In addition, one had a candidate “with very low approval ratings in the population,” he said, referring to CDU leader Armin Laschet. “An election victory would have been a minor miracle.” Merz also said that he supported Laschet as long as there was a chance of forming a Jamaica coalition. Now it is important for the Union to take responsibility despite the electoral defeat, “at least if the SPD fails to bring about a government”. The CSU also had a historically bad result. “This election result is nowhere suitable for mutual instructions and instructions on who has to do what now,” said Merz, rejecting criticism of the CSU.
Regarding speculation that Söder could lead a Jamaica coalition in the end, Merz said: “I don’t know, I don’t have the imagination at the moment.” But so much has changed since election day “that we can no longer rule anything out”.
AfD parliamentary group elects Weidel and Chrupalla as chairmen
The new parliamentary group of the AfD has elected Alice Weidel and party leader Tino Chrupalla as their chairmen. According to information from participants in the parliamentary group meeting, they received 50 votes in favor. 25 MPs voted against the duo, with two abstentions. There were no opposing candidates. The group had previously decided that two chairmen should continue to head the group in the future. A motion to move away from this principle, which, according to observers, was primarily directed against the previous co-chair Weidel, did not find a majority.
According to participants in the parliamentary group meeting, there was a controversial debate about the proposal to make the outgoing co-parliamentary group leader Alexander Gauland honorary chairman. The former CDU member was one of the most powerful figures in the party for years. Meanwhile, however, members of the camp, which describes itself as moderate, accuse him of opening the party too far to the right. Participants reported that the discussion about the honorary chairmanship was somewhat “rough”.
In the end, however, the position of honorary chairman without voting rights was anchored in the rules of procedure. The MPs wanted to vote late in the evening on whether Gauland should hold this office.
Only 82 of the 83 AfD MPs were invited to the meeting of the parliamentary group on Thursday. After some MPs had objected to his inclusion in the parliamentary group on Wednesday, Matthias Helferich, who had come to the Bundestag via the NRW state list of the AfD, waived. It still has to be decided whether he wants to and may at least take part in the meetings as a guest in the future. Helferich was suspended from office during the election campaign. The background to the regulatory measure decided by the federal executive committee were statements in older chats. The AfD politician does not deny that he described himself as the “friendly face of NS” in it. However, this term was merely a third-party attribution by left-wing bloggers whom he “satirized”, he explained. (09/30/2021)
Union wants to talk to the FDP on Sunday and the Greens on Tuesday
The top of the Union wants to discuss with representatives of the FDP on this Sunday evening about opportunities for a possible joint Jamaica government with the Greens. From union circles it was said on Thursday that the party leaders of the CDU, CSU and FDP, Armin Laschet, Markus Söder and Christian Lindner, had decided on Wednesday evening that they wanted to meet on Sunday evening at 6.30 p.m. The participants in the delegations should be determined in the course of Thursday.
Talks between the Union and the Greens are planned for Tuesday morning, as CDU General Secretary Paul Ziemiak announced. The Union thinks it makes sense to talk about a possible “future alliance”. This could be a “sustainability alliance”, for example on issues such as climate protection, digitization and public finances.
Thus, the schedule for the first talks about a new government is largely fixed: On Friday, the FDP and the Greens will meet for an exploratory round; their tips had already met in a small group on Tuesday evening. On Sunday the SPD and FDP first meet in the afternoon, then the SPD and the Greens – and in parallel the union with the FDP. Two days later the Union and the Greens meet.
The SPD is relying on a coalition with the Greens and FDP: You go to the meeting with the “firm will on our part” to form a traffic light coalition, said SPD General Secretary Lars Klingbeil – and he is also optimistic. Now they have agreed on a schedule among themselves. “What matters is who signs the coalition agreement in the end,” not who speaks to each other first.
Green chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock again showed her preference for a traffic light coalition. “We derive a clear mandate to form a progressive government from the election results,” she said. Like FDP general secretary Volker Wissing, she did not report anything about the round of four, in which they both participated on Tuesday evening – together with the Greens co-chairman Robert Habeck and FDP leader Christian Lindner. All four had just published the same selfie that night.
Confidentiality had been agreed, said Baerbock. And Wissing emphasized several times on Wednesday that a “trusting and confidential framework” was important for the talks. That is why it was decided not to communicate anything about the first conversation with the Greens on Tuesday evening, but only to let a picture speak. (09/30/2021)
Göring-Eckardt: Union “zero prepared” for the time after Merkel
Green parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt speaks out clearly against a Jamaica alliance with the Union. “I don’t see at the moment that the Union could be considered capable of exploring, let alone capable of governing,” she told the newspapers of the Funke media group. She is always of the opinion that no option should be ruled out among the democratic parties. But when looking at the state of the CDU, she currently does not see how a coalition with the CDU and CSU should go.
“The whole place is obviously not prepared for the time after Merkel.” There, “first of all, order must be taken care of,” said Göring-Eckardt in a statement in Berlin. But it is not up to the Greens to “take care of the balance of power in the Union,” added Anton Hofreiter. Both had previously been provisionally confirmed as chairmen in office by the new parliamentary group of the Greens.
Meanwhile, the Green Youth warns of the FDP as a possible coalition partner of the Greens. “In this election, people who had previously voted conservatively, fleeing from the CDU’s hostility towards the future, have now ended up with the FDP,” said the federal spokesman for the Green Youth, Georg Kurz. “Unfortunately, behind the fresh image of the FDP has so far only been the old story of the miraculous forces of the market.” (09/30/2021)
SPD calls on Laschet to recognize electoral defeat
The SPD calls on Union Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet to acknowledge and acknowledge the result of the Bundestag election as an election defeat for the CDU and CSU. “The fact that Armin Laschet has not been able to recognize the total rejection of voters to this day, but instead doggedly haggled over every millimeter of power, is a shameful indictment for him and the CDU and CSU parties that support him,” says the SPD chairman Norbert Walter-Borjans the Augsburger Allgemeine. The voters had made it clear who they wanted to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel and who they didn’t. (09/30/2021)