According to the previous general access rights, the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag would have been given three chairpersons in the committee. However, the AfD candidates failed in the elections. The Federal Constitutional Court will decide on this today.
This has never happened in the history of the Bundestag. In November 2019, the chairman of the Justice Committee, AfD MP Stephan Brandner, was voted out by the committee members because of several statements made by the politician that the majority of the committee considered incompatible with the dignity of public office.
For example, Brandner described the Federal Cross of Merit of AfD critic Udo Lindenberg as the “Judas King,” a term with a long tradition as an anti-Semitic insult.
“I had to pull the emergency brake”
At an oral hearing in Karlsruhe in March, other members of the Bundestag reported that early doubts about Brandner’s suitability had already been raised at a meeting with the law association in 2018. Brandner spoke mainly about the AfD’s position on marriage for all, essentially presenting his own party’s program and never representing all the committee members, which was his job.
Johannes Fechner, a Social Democratic politician at the time, summed up Branner’s performance as follows: “This alienated the major associations of the legal profession, which in turn triggered the emergency brakes and led to the cancellation of the nomination.”
Stefan Brandner saw it differently. He argued in Karlsruhe that his dismissal in 2019 was inadmissible, as was the fact that all current committee chairs are elected by secret ballot in the respective Bundestag committees. “That hasn’t existed for 60 years, it was introduced suddenly, and there is no acceptable choice, so from our point of view, a deselection is not acceptable. Moreover, a deselection is not provided for in the regulations, the rules of procedure.”
AfD claims rights Same participation
The lawsuit before the Federal Constitutional Court concerns not only Branner’s dismissal, but also the fact that AfD candidates failed to win a majority of seats in the other three committees.
Traditionally, the parliamentary group had three chairpersons, depending on their strength, according to their previous access rights. But now, since all the committees elect their chairpersons, no AfD candidate has been given the position. The group claims that this violates their right to equal participation in parliament. It is a democratic principle that they should be given the chairpersonship of the committees.
Fechner countered in March: “Each parliamentary group has the opportunity to make proposals to its own committees, based on its strengths. But it cannot blindly elect everyone who is proposed.” For example, it should be able to reject someone who has been convicted of a crime.
The ruling will be announced at 10 a.m. today. It will certainly be important for the work of the Federal Congress, as the court has yet to rule on the question of how committee chairs are determined.
