[ad_1]
86 cents – what are they? Much, as is now becoming apparent in Saxony-Anhalt. 86 cents have so much explosive power here that they could bankrupt the government. In terms of federal policy, they are already causing a stir and are once again raising a controversial question: Is cooperation (in any form) allowed with the AfD?
At the beginning of the year, FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich caused a national stir when he was elected prime minister of Thuringia with AfD votes. Is something similar happening in Saxony-Anhalt?
In any case, the CDU, SPD and Greens coalition is currently being tested. The problem: on January 1, the fee for the radio license that goes to public broadcasters in Germany will increase by 86 cents to 18.36 euros per month.
For this to actually happen, all German state parliaments must approve the change in the State Treaty. If only one state disagrees, the planned increase will collapse (ARD and ZDF could go to Federal Constitutional Court). With the exception of Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, all federal states have already voted in favor of the increase.
In the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, however, a dispute has started on this issue. The CDU parliamentary group, which has governed the state since 2016, rejects the increase. Coalition partners SPD and Greens, on the other hand, support them, even though they actually signed “contribution stability” to the coalition agreement.
[Wenn Sie alle aktuellen Nachrichten live auf Ihr Handy haben wollen, empfehlen wir Ihnen unsere runderneuerte App, die Sie hier für Apple- und Android-Geräte herunterladen können.]
But the dispute only becomes explosive because the AfD opposition in the Magdeburg state parliament is against the increase. In reality, the agreement enforces that the CDU, the SPD and the Greens abstain in case of disagreement. That does not work in this case: the project would stop only with the AfD votes because it has more votes than the left that wants to agree. With the help of the AfD, the CDU could overcome its rejection and let the increase fail across the country. Voting must take place on December 15th.
The left had originally announced that it wanted to vote against the project. But in November it took a 180 degree turn. It is possible that she did not want to be grouped together with the AfD. The CDU now has this problem.
Word of power required of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
In terms of federal policy, the topic has been a topic of conversation for days. “The CDU must keep the doors of the extreme right tightly closed and must not make common cause with the constitutional enemies of the AfD,” said Michael Kellner, federal manager of Los Verdes, the “world.” SPD Secretary General Lars Klingbeil warned: The CDU is “openly allied with the far-right AfD state” in Saxony-Anhalt.
Meanwhile, the AfD is already triumphing and sees the “majority of the conservative right” on the rise in Saxony-Anhalt. A “joint rejection” of the contract is the “litmus test for future cooperation between AfD and CDU,” AfD parliamentary group leader Oliver Kirchner told “Spiegel”.
As the magazine reports, the Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, Rainer Haseloff, telephoned the head of the CDU, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, about the matter. He would try everything, Haseloff told him, but he couldn’t dictate anything to his MPs.
The SPD in the Bundestag demanded a word of power from Kramp-Karrenbauer on Wednesday. It must be ensured that the Union does not work in any way with the AfD, said the parliamentary director of the SPD parliamentary group, Carsten Schneider. The CDU at the federal level has not yet ruled.
“We make our own policy, that cannot be linked”
On Tuesday of this week Haseloff tried to calm things down. The coalition agreement forged the three partners together, and he hoped this would lead to a unified outcome.
Will that be successful? The head of country of the CDU, Holger Stahlknecht, wants to maintain the rejection. “There is a justified parliamentary group decision on the matter,” he told “Spiegel”. For years, the East has not received enough media attention. “Then there is the crisis of the crown. Everybody has to tighten their belts. “
CDU media policy spokesman Markus Kurz defended the CDU plan last week in an interview with Tagesspiegel: “The CDU in Saxony-Anhalt has had its program of contribution stability and affordability in its electoral programs and coalition agreements for ten years. Ten years ago there was no AfD. We make our own policy, you can’t link that. “
In order not to allow the dispute to escalate further, the Greens of Saxony-Anhalt want to consult a digital meeting. About 50 delegates want to connect to a small party conference Friday night via video. The state Greens keep repeating that they are willing to speak and that they wanted to reach an agreement with the CDU before the vote.
By the way, the citizens of Saxony-Anhalt are as undecided as the coalition. In a poll conducted by the polling institute dimap on behalf of ARD, 54 percent said the state parliament should approve the adjustment. 44 percent of those surveyed rejected a premium increase. The survey also shows that 79 percent of the respondents consider public service broadcasting to be indispensable in Germany. (with dpa, epd)
