Parliament: Spahn for other handling of AfD in the Bundestag

Union faction vice Jens Spahn (CDU) advises to deal with the AfD on organizational questions in the Bundestag as well as other opposition parties. Spahn spoke in the “picture” of processes in parliament, procedures in the rules of procedure, in the committees and the consideration of minority and majority rights. “I would simply recommend us to handle the AfD as an opposition party in the procedures and processes, as with any other opposition party.”

When choosing the Vice President of the Bundestag: “You make a suggestion, and every proposal has to find a majority in a secret election among the members of the Bundestag.” It is about a government office and a representative office. “And you should have the majority of the members of the Bundestag behind in order to be able to represent this,” said Spahn.

AfD has never had the post of a vice president

Since the AfD moved to parliament in 2017, she has never been able to provide a Bundestag Vice President. The other factions always refused AfD candidates the necessary majority, the post then remained free. For the same reason, the AfD has no seat in the parliamentary control committee responsible for the secret services.

So far, there have been no uniform line in the preservation of the normal Bundestag committees, which are actually occupied by all factions: In its first parliamentary years, the AfD, for example, provided the chairman of the mighty budget committee. Most recently, she did not have a chair – and therefore even complained to the Federal Constitutional Court. The highest German court dismissed the organizations. In the new Bundestag, the elections of the committee chairman are still pending.

In the Bundestag election in February, the AfD had become the second strongest force – after the Union. In view of this, Spahn said: “It will be a tough argument in the Bundestag.” He recommends that he cannot be provoked and not to jump over every stick that the AfD is.

“Voters wanted to tell us something”

As the AfD occurs in parliament, it is often not bourgeois, “how to put it around, how to ruffle around, how others are being crushed,” said Spahn. At the same time, you have to have in mind that the AfD is so strong “because voters wanted to tell us something”. The voters should be taken seriously. That is why it is about finding the “right balance” in dealing with the AfD in the Bundestag.