Bundestag: Who calls whom? Even one doesn’t protect you from insults

Irritated MP
“Dear Norbert” instead of “Mr. Röttgen”: Who can use whom in the Bundestag?

Siezen or first name – this question arises not only in everyday life, but also in the Bundestag. However, even that doesn’t protect you from insults.

CDU foreign politician Norbert Röttgen was visibly irritated last week: Suddenly, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) no longer addressed him as “Dear Member” in the government poll in the Bundestag, but as “Dear Norbert”. Previously, Scholz was from Röttgen with a question Taurus deliveries to Ukraine cornered. Is the Chancellor allowed to do that?

Both know each other well from the time when they were the parliamentary managing directors of their parliamentary groups during the first Merkel government. Nevertheless, Röttgen stuck to “You, Mr. Chancellor” in the plenary hall even after the first-name approach. Because he has to? Because as a simple MP he can’t simply use the Chancellor’s name back?

Manners
Against the first name: Excuse me, could I perhaps offer you the you?

January 31, 2024

No fixed rules in the Bundestag

Theoretically, he could very well do that: There are no fixed rules for sieving in the Bundestag. How MPs approach a colleague or a member of the government depends primarily on the personal relationship. But siezing is “the more common form” in parliamentary debates, says a spokeswoman for the Bundestag. After all, the debates are primarily intended for the public.

It is a question of custom, for some it may be a question of politeness. If a first-name use in the plenary debate occurs “in a disrespectful manner,” the meeting chair could see this “as a violation of the order or dignity of the Bundestag,” said the spokeswoman – the first-name person could receive a call to order. But some people may remember that even using Siezen doesn’t protect you from insults. “With respect, Mr. President,” shouted the Green Party’s Joschka Fischer in the Bundestag in 1984: “You are an asshole.”