After the election: Bundestag sorted itself down

Bundestag in the state of suspension: elected MPs who had already said goodbye return to Berlin, renovation work on the plenary hall has to wait and ongoing preparations for the work of the newly elected parliament are back in the background. Although a new Bundestag was elected eleven days ago, the old one is now expected to make decisions again.

On this Thursday, the old parliamentary council, as the German Press Agency learned, advises how this is to be organized. Later, representatives of the so -called pre -elder council of the new Bundestag together, and could set the date for the first session (constitution) of the new parliament.

What the Council of Elders decides

Until the constituent session of the new Bundestag, the old is officially still fully able to work. Union and SPD use this. With regard to the international and the economic situation in Germany, you have agreed gigantic financial packages for defense and infrastructure this Thursday. They want to adopt corresponding changes in the Basic Law with the help of the old parliament, because the new two -thirds majority is missing in the new due to the gain in AfD and the left.

The Council of Elders is now to determine when the expected two sessions are expected to take place. A special meeting was speculated in advance at the end of next week and another beginning of the week.

What the preliminary council does

The so -called pre -elder council, consisting of the still incumbent Bundestag president and representatives of the newly formed political groups, decides on the date for the constituent session of the newly elected parliament. According to the Basic Law, the new Bundestag must meet at the latest on the 30th day after the election. That would be March 25th. The previous elderly also advises on the future seating arrangement in the plenary hall. There had been gone here in the past, for example because the FDP didn’t want to sit next to the AfD anymore.

A quarrel is emerging in some other questions from the future parliamentary company, especially in connection with the AfD, which is significantly more represented in the new Bundestag with 152 instead of 77 politicians.

AfD wants SPD session hall

As the second largest parliamentary group, the AfD claims the second largest meeting room under the Reichstag dome, in which the SPD has so far been sitting. This does not want to give up the hall she named after Otto Wels (SPD), who had offered the Nazis her forehead. The fact that the AfD gets it is not made.

There is no automatism that the second largest faction also receives the second largest hall, according to the Bundestag administration. It is therefore also conceivable that the AfD gets a different hall that is big enough. If the political groups do not agree with each other, who meets where, the future Council of Elders decides with a majority decision. The majority relationships in the Council of Elders correspond to those of the entire Bundestag.

AfD probably continued without Bundestag Vice President

A place in the Bundestag Presidium ensures prestige and influence. In addition to the president, who traditionally come from the strongest faction, the other factions each provide a vice president. However, the AfD has always been empty here since it moved into the Bundestag in 2017. All of their candidates failed. It will probably be no different in the new Bundestag, even if the AfD insists in the face of its growth. Union and SPD have already signaled that their ranks will not have any approval.

The rules of procedure of the Bundestag stipulates that each faction provides at least one vice president. The Basic Law also stipulates that they have to be elected. In a decision in 2022, the Federal Constitutional Court had referred to it and made it clear that the claim of a parliamentary group was subject to the election when the presidium was occupied. President and Vice President are elected in a secret election at the constituent meeting of the Bundestag.

The strongest opposition faction is traditionally handled by the important budget committee. That would be the AfD in the new legislative period. The other committees are awarded according to a certain mechanism: the largest faction can first choose a committee, then the second largest, the third largest and so on. This goes over several rounds until the front seats are distributed.

Usually the chairpersons are set without voting. In the end of the legislative period, however, the AfD was denied because voting on the chair was requested in the committees due to them and the AfD representatives were then not received a majority. The items remained vacant. A passage of the AfD before the Federal Constitutional Court did not lead to success. The dispute should go into the next round if the processes in the committees repeat themselves.

Parliamentary control committee

The AfD also wants to be represented again in the parliamentary control committee (PKGR). This monitors the secret services, gets access to sensitive information and regularly meets under strict confidentiality in a neglected space.

From 2017 to 2021, the AfD was represented there with the former chief prosecutor Roman Reusch, then no longer because its candidates failed in the corresponding elections. That could also be repeated in the new Bundestag.