After the revelation of the Bavarian Radio Interior Minister Faeser has brought stricter rules into play regarding right-wing extremist AfD employees in the Bundestag. However, these would have to be initiated by Parliament itself.
According to a report by the Bavarian Radio Regarding the activities of right-wing extremists for the AfD in the Bundestag, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has called for stricter rules for the employment of members of parliament and parliamentary groups. “The Bundestag can review its own rules and discuss tightening them,” said Faeser to the Rheinische Post. “We are a defensive democracy and must use all mechanisms to protect it from its enemies,” she said. “All Democrats must be concerned that right-wing extremist networks reach into the Bundestag,” said Faeser.
However, the government has no recourse in such cases because of the separation of powers; only parliament itself can take action. The Interior Minister pointed out that only people “who act firmly on the basis of the Basic Law” are allowed to work in the government and authorities. She has just tightened disciplinary law so that extremists cannot sabotage the democratic state from within. “The integration of the AfD into right-wing extremist networks must be further examined closely,” demanded Faeser. “Increasingly strong connections are becoming apparent.”
The Bavarian Radio had reported that the AfD parliamentary group and its MPs have more than 100 employees who are active in organizations that are classified as right-wing extremist by German constitutional protection offices. Among them are activists from the “Identitarian Movement”, ideological thinkers from the “New Right” and several neo-Nazis.
Mast: “Real Nazis and right-wing extremists”
The SPD’s first parliamentary director, Katja Mast, called the revelations “shocking.” “It doesn’t surprise me that the AfD employs real Nazis and right-wing extremists, but the extent of it is much larger than I feared,” Mast told the editorial network Germany (RND). “The AfD is specifically trying to undermine democracy.” There are “a bunch of right-wing Nazis” in the AfD, said Mast.
The Union sees Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD) as having a duty. “If this press report turns out to be true, the President of the Bundestag must act immediately,” said parliamentary secretary Thorsten Frei (CDU) to the AFP news agency. “It would be absurd and absolutely unacceptable for the AfD to employ right-wing extremists.” From his point of view, it would also be “revealing if people were actually employed by the AfD who had previously been officially excluded by the AfD because of extremist activities.”
Cross-factional Appeals
Green party leader Britta Haßelmann said there must be an end to the banalization and trivialization of the AfD. The Bundestag must deal with the findings from the research. “It’s time to look at this very closely,” said Haßelmann. “The interior of this Parliament” must be protected. Anyone who maintains connections to right-wing extremist networks must be checked – “including by all possible means here in the house.”
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr called for a public discussion about “which people there are being financed by the AfD with taxpayers’ money.” That should be questioned. It is important to “expose things.”
The first parliamentary managing director of the AfD parliamentary group, Bernd Baumann, told journalists that there was “no truth” to the allegations. He referred to the ongoing court hearing in Münster between the AfD and the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and spoke of nebulous suspicions. The publication on the same day is no coincidence. He called the Office for the Protection of the Constitution a “bully of the interior ministries” and also pointed out that the Bundestag checks all members of parliament’s employees. “And anyone who works here has survived this test,” said Baumann.
Anyone who works in Bundestag buildings receives a Bundestag ID card to gain access. This is created upon request. According to the Bundestag’s house rules, a so-called general background check is carried out on the person concerned, for which police databases are used. The application can be rejected “if there are reasonable doubts about the reliability of the person making the application.” The ID card can later be confiscated for these reasons.