Hamburg
Green MPs fined for lack of party discipline
Hamburg’s Green Party Member of Parliament, Miriam Block, was relieved of her parliamentary group posts. photo
© Moritz Frankenberg/dpa
She wanted the murder of the right-wing extremist NSU to be clarified by a parliamentary investigative committee and followed a request from the left. Therefore, a citizen representative of the Greens must bear the consequences.
Due to a lack of party discipline, the Hamburg Green Party MP Miriam Block has been relieved of her parliamentary group offices. The background to this is a dispute over how the right-wing extremist terrorist cell National Socialist Underground (NSU) murdered the Hamburg greengrocer Süleyman Taşköprü in 2001.
Block had approved a motion by the left-wing faction to set up a parliamentary committee of inquiry (PUA) the week before last, although the government factions of the SPD and the Greens had instead agreed on a scientific review of the NSU complex.
Hamburg is the only federal state where the NSU has murdered and where the crimes have not been investigated by a PUA. While the Greens spoke out in favor of a PUA at a party conference in 2021, the coalition partner SPD rejects this.
Over the years, the NSU had, among other things, murdered nine tradespeople of Turkish and Greek origin and a policewoman.
“Step necessary from the point of view of the group”
Although the motion by the left-wing faction did not receive a majority, even with Block’s vote, the 32-year-old has damaged the coalition in the opinion of the Green party and faction leadership. On Monday evening, after hours of deliberation in the parliamentary group, 22 Green MPs agreed to a proposal by the party and parliamentary group executives and the Green Senate members to vote Block out as spokeswoman for science and university policy. According to a spokesman, seven MPs voted against it. Block’s dismissal from the interior and science committee of the state parliament was also decided.
The deselection and dismissal of blocks are “the consequence of the behavior of MPs in recent weeks,” said parliamentary group leader Dominik Lorenzen. “The deputy has repeatedly violated common agreements and shared rules of communication. From the point of view of the parliamentary group, the step that has now been taken is therefore necessary, but at the same time it was not easy for everyone involved.”
Green youth shocked
While Block himself did not want to comment on her punishment the day after, criticism came from the Green Youth in Hamburg. “The deselection of Miriam Block as spokeswoman in the science department, which is disproportionate, and the loss of her committee seats has triggered deep-seated horror,” said state spokesman Berkay Gür of the German Press Agency.
Block’s “determined and irreplaceable commitment to investigating right-wing terrorist acts of violence” rightly finds social support. “All the more, their conscientious decision for the committee of inquiry should have had factional understanding,” said Gür. The Green Youth continue to demand a PUA.
The Greens in the federal government did not want to comment on the events in Hamburg. “This is a matter for the parliamentary group of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in Hamburg,” said party leader Omid Nouripour in Berlin. “And I can assure you as party chairman for all our members very clearly and unequivocally that we stand together in the fight against the Nazis and against racism and right-wing extremism.”