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The AfD deals with the aftermath of the scandal in the Bundestag. The top of the parliamentary group has temporarily withdrawn the right to speak to MPs Bystron and Hemmelgarn. But that might not end the matter.
By Martin Schmidt and Julie Kurz, ARD capital studio
In the midst of the crown pandemic, the congress of his great party is imminent. 600 AfD delegates want to meet in person in Kalkar over the weekend to finally give the party a social program, including their own ideas for saving pension. But instead of discussing it, elected officials are still concerned about the aftermath of the past week.
On the day of the vote on the Infection Protection Act, guests of the AfD parliamentary group harassed parliamentarians in the corridors of the Bundestag building, among other things, the Minister of Economy, Peter Altmaier, was vulgarly insulted.
“I am extremely unhappy about that.”
Even the federal AfD executive spoke again about the incidents on Monday. Many in the party consider the damage that has been done enormous. “I am very unhappy about it,” says Jörg Meuthen in an interview with the ARD capital study. Wait for the processes to process. “Who made what mistakes? You can’t just leave that there.”
Lucassen: “Then the federal party must intervene to regulate”
The AfD parliamentary group decided on Friday that MPs Udo Hemmelgarn and Petr Bystron should apologize to the President of the Bundestag for the behavior of their guests. But Meuthen doesn’t want to rule out more sanctions against the two, even if that’s initially the issue for the parliamentary group. “In the federal executive committee I insisted that they inform me, and then we will see”, his statements clearly reflect the mistrust that the presidents of the parliamentary group Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland are repressing quite harshly.
The president of the largest AfD regional association in North Rhine-Westphalia, Rüdiger Lucassen, is heading in the same direction. The leadership of the parliamentary group is responsible for preventing harm to its parliamentarians, the parliamentary group as a whole and also the party, he says. ARD capital study: “If the leadership of the parliamentary group does not recognize this clearly enough, the federal party has to intervene to regulate. That is why the state executive committee of North Rhine-Westphalia has asked the federal executive committee of our party to act on consequence on the two leaders of the parliamentary group Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland.
Sanctions of the executive committee of the parliamentary group
Meanwhile, the executive committee of the parliamentary group decides on the sanctions: Bystron and Hemmelgarn will be deprived of their right to speak in the Bundestag until the end of February. In addition, the executive of the parliamentary group will submit requests for a vote against its membership in the Bundestag committees in the event of new behaviors harmful to the faction.
A press release claims the measure got broad approval at the group’s meeting, but for many it doesn’t go far enough. “A placebo measure that has no effect,” says Rüdiger Lucassen.
Meuthen wants to avoid observation by protecting the constitution
The fear, especially in the more moderate camp, for AfD conditions: incidents in the Bundestag could play the protection of the constitution on the cards. Meuthen wants to avoid full observation of the AfD by protecting the constitution. Bourgeois voters, in particular, could be further deterred by the observation that officials leave the AfD.
That is why a majority in the federal executive committee voted earlier this year to expel right-wing extremist Andreas Kalbitz from the party, and insisted that the right-wing extremist “wing” disband. They wanted to point out to the protection of the constitution that they were going against right-wing extremists in the party. So the calculation. But that doesn’t seem to impress the president of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
“Clear signs”
In an interview with a newspaper a few weeks ago, Thomas Haldenwang said that the dissolution of the “wing” had in fact changed nothing. Even that the influence of the “wing” has increased. Now, since the Corona crisis, the AfD is increasingly in league with the anti-Corona protest on the street. Compared to the ARD capital study Thuringian constitution protection chief Stephan Kramer declined to give an assessment of whether current developments have an influence on the question of whether constitution protection could respect the whole party.
Kramer said they did not want to anticipate the outcome of the examination, but then added: “It can be seen very clearly in the current debate when, for example, there is talk of a Crown dictatorship and thus constitutional bodies are also questioned – here they are, I think very clear signs to see where the journey is heading. “
Decision later this year?
It is not known exactly when the Office for the Protection of the Constitution will decide whether to observe the entire party. Observers assume, however, that it could happen this year. Also to avoid the impression that it would interfere with a decision in the electoral campaign. In 2021 there are not only six state elections, but also the next federal elections.
