Bundestag
Members are supposed to remove rainbow flags from their offices
Rainbow flags: important signal or too much of a good thing? Bundestag members are supposed to remove the colorful flags from their offices – the reason is the house rules.
The Bundestag administration has justified a request to several MPs to remove rainbow flags attached to their offices, with the house rules of parliament. Accordingly, the attachment of flags is “in principle not permitted and regardless of the concrete symbolism,” said a spokesman for the Bundestag. “It is not about the control of rainbow flags.” The “Tagesspiegel” had previously reported.
The request to the MPs was issued at the beginning of the week. The spokesman emphasized that this was a routine process. There are always similar cases. There is a general ban that also affects Germany or European or Europeans as well as other flags and notices.
According to the spokesman, the Bundestag administration had recently pointed out by MPs that the rainbow flags – a symbol of the queer community – were attached to the windows of MPs from the external windows.
One of the MPs who adorned her office with a Pride flag is Stella Merendino (left). “The Bundestag police were called because of the rainbow flag at my office in the Bundestag,” she wrote on Instagram.
According to the Bundestag spokesman, this is a common procedure. If the Bundestag administration has checked the facts, “this is usually implemented by the Bundestag police and the presentation for access matters”. The house rules are known to all MPs.
Paragraph 4 states: “The attachment of notices, in particular posters, posters, signs and stickers on doors, walls or windows in the generally accessible buildings of the German Bundestag as well as windows and facades of these buildings, which are visible from the outside, is not permitted without exception.”
Rainbow flag debate
Bundestag President Julia Klöckner (CDU) had ordered the rainbow flag to be raised on the Reichstag building for the international day against homophobia (May 17th) – and no longer at the Berlin Christopher Street Day on July 26th. That triggered broad criticism.
A statement by Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) continued to fuel the debate. When asked how he thinks that Klöckner does not want to hoist the rainbow flag for the CSD on the Bundestag, he said in the ARD: “The Bundestag is now not a circus tent” on which you can hiss. There is a day of May 17, a day of the year, on which the rainbow flag is being hoisted.
Dpa
yks
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
