Defame, insult, interrupt – Bundestag President Bas wants to take tougher action against bullying MPs. The fine should be increased to at least 2,000 euros. Parliamentarians must live up to their role model function.
Bundestag President Bärbel Bas has announced that the penalties for bullying MPs will be increased. “We want to increase the fine from currently 1,000 euros,” she told “Bild am Sonntag”. She would like “a fine of 2,000 euros or more. That really hurts.”
The reform of parliament’s regulatory law is necessary in order to “take tougher action against notorious mobsters.” Bas warned: “We have to pay more attention to our language, we shouldn’t attack each other personally in the German Bundestag, we shouldn’t defame each other. Our culture of debate is ultimately reflected in society.”
Calls to order have had hardly any consequences so far
She regularly distributes reprimands and calls for order and repeatedly appeals to parliamentarians to live up to their own role model function. “I get a lot of letters accusing us of being worse than schoolyard hooligans.”
According to the Bundestag’s rules of procedure, members can be sanctioned not only for personal insults, but also for anything that “violates the order or dignity of the Bundestag.” A call to order is particularly effective at the moment and has hardly any official consequences – only if there are three calls to order on the same topic does a member of the Bundestag no longer have the right to speak.
It is the task of the chair of the meeting to sanction MPs with calls to order or reprimands if necessary. In more drastic cases, exclusion from the Bundestag session is possible.