How did the Bundestag perform in the Corona crisis? Good, is the analysis of its President Wolfgang Schäuble. But the CDU man does not hide a great disappointment either.
According to its President Wolfgang Schäuble, the Bundestag has proven to be “very crisis-proof” during the corona pandemic.
“Parliament was able to work and make decisions at any time,” said the CDU politician in an interview with the German Press Agency on the occasion of the last regular session of this electoral period on Friday. “Right from the start, I urged that the Bundestag fully fulfill its role and responsibility as the highest democratically legitimized body in our constitution, even in times of crisis. In such an emergency situation, democracy, the Basic Law or Parliament could not be overridden. ”
As before, however, the provisions in the Basic Law are not sufficient for a pandemic emergency. In the meantime, he has heard from many parliamentary groups that after the crisis one should consider whether one should not create a regulation for difficult situations – for example if the pandemic worsens – that ensures the Bundestag’s ability to work at all times.
Schäuble does not see any damage to democracy from the pandemic, which has produced “lateral thinkers” and corona deniers. “Our democratic system has shown that it can deal with such a difficult pandemic situation in which no one can foresee everything.” Even before the pandemic, however, one could see worrying developments everywhere in the Western representative democracies: in some cases falling voter turnout, the strengthening of extremes on both sides of the political spectrum and populist currents. “It was all the more important that we, as members of parliament, performed our task in the representative system.”
The 78-year-old, who is running for the Bundestag again, was disappointed that there was no real reform of the electoral law in this legislative period either. He was “very unhappy about that,” he emphasized. “I tried to get it from the first week of this legislative period. Despite the investment of much effort and patience, and even more time and effort, all attempts to achieve effective reform have failed. For me, that is one of the greatest disappointments of this legislative period. ” The problem remains “squaring the circle”. Even the commission that has just been appointed will not be able to solve it. “So the next Bundestag will have to face this task again.”
Schäuble considered it compliant that the AfD, which was represented in the Bundestag for the first time, was denied a desired vice-presidential post. «All members of the Bureau must be elected by a majority in parliament by secret ballot. And if a group does not get this approval for its personnel proposals, then that’s the way it is, ”he said. “I am quite sure that this will stand up to legal scrutiny, because the members of the Bureau are not representatives of the political groups.”
The CDU politician emphasized that the AfD is represented in the council of elders, which deliberate on the internal affairs of the Bundestag. “By the way: In the course of the legislative period, the trust of the other MPs in the AfD has not grown according to my observation. The AfD has to ask itself why that is. ”
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