As of: September 27, 2024 8:30 p.m
The constituent session of the Thuringian state parliament attracted great interest throughout the country and was also echoed in the media. What has been written about the Free State Parliament?
Im Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger says: “This is a precedent that affects the entire Republic. The Bundestag and all state parliaments are required more than ever to take another look at their rules of procedure and constitutions in order to take precautions in the event of an emergency. (…) Many federal and state rules are made for sunshine, not for storms. They are based on the good faith of the post-war and post-reunification period that all political actors adhere to them. However, the AfD either does not follow the rules or perverts them in order to either make the institutions ridiculous or incapable of acting. The Democrats must respond to this. They have to pile up sandbags like they would in a flood – even if they don’t know whether the flood will actually come.”
Die Berliner Morgenpost writes: “Anyone who, like the Höcke AfD, despises freedom and an open society, also despises parliamentarism and its rules of the game. (…) The AfD can no longer be completely excluded in Thuringia, it is too strong for that. Now it has shown that she is determined to use her power to the best of her ability to weaken the democratic system (…) In Thuringia, a proposal from the Greens to clarify the procedure for electing the President of Parliament failed due to resistance from their leader Mario Voigt, who now wants to become Prime Minister, preferred to rely on agreements between the parties, including the AfD. He could have known at the time that promises from Höcke and his people were worthless after Thursday’s scandal Stupid there – and the parliament can probably hardly believe their luck.”
In the Leipziger Volkszeitung it says: “Unfortunately, the democratic factions in the Thuringian state parliament, with the exception of the BSW, which was not yet represented in parliament at the time, are themselves to blame. If they had changed the rules of procedure before the state elections on September 1st, then this wanton show would have led to the dismantling of the Democracy cannot exist in this form. Now the CDU, BSW, Left and SPD have to make up for the step with pain and long-standing damage to the reputation of parliament.”
“With a motion on the rules of procedure and now by appealing to the Constitutional Court, the CDU wants to ensure that all parliamentary groups can submit election proposals – in order to prevent a state parliament president from the AfD faction of the right-wing extremist Björn Höcke,” writes The bell (Oelde). “This is sorely necessary in order to rule out as much as possible an abuse of power by the AfD in parliamentary work. Nevertheless, dealing with the AfD parliamentary group in Thuringia remains a political challenge and balancing act. Ignoring and completely excluding an election winner who is 32, Reaching 8 percent of the vote can lead to a dangerous disenchantment with democracy.”
Die Lausitzer Rundschau (Cottbus) finds: “What there can be no two opinions about is the necessity of the ability of a democratically elected parliament to function. Höcke has ordered the political rampage of the senior president Jürgen Treutler to ignore motions for the rules of procedure, even though the very rules of procedure to which Treutler explicitly refers , forcing him to vote on this, may seem like a tactical foul at first glance, but in reality it is a bloodthirsty attack on the rights of freely elected representatives. Höcke is thus the best advertisement for the AfD’s firewall – with calculation fundamentally different country and sees a sole government with itself as a strong leader as the only way to get there. The disdain for parliamentarism is a central component of this strategy.”
Die Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung writes about the scandal in the Thuringian state parliament: “During the election campaign, the Thuringian AfD painted the picture of a corrupt, manipulative and authoritarian political system and thus made democracy and its organs contemptible. Now, after its clear election victory, the party is setting about changing this system So simple, so threatening. If there is at least something positive to be gained from the state parliament scandal, it might be that the last illusions about the AfD’s determination are likely to evaporate. This is ultimately the most obvious lesson from Erfurt: extremist forces are inclined to be honest.”
“The situation is serious, very serious. For the first time in the history of the Federal Republic, opponents of the parliamentary system are preparing to undermine it from within,” they say Nuremberg News.
“The objections that were mostly loudly raised against AfD senior president Jürgen Treutler, including the CDU’s ‘seizure of power’ statement, which found its way into all TV news, were of a political, not a legal nature,” writes the Young world. “More precisely: Treutler was shouted and knocked to break the law, while the AfD mob remained calm. The hooliganism in the plenum came from those who talk about blah-blah anti-fascism and democracy. In particular, the CDU, whose propensity for the AfD is notorious in Thuringia, refused to change the rules of procedure at this point in the old state parliament. Only in passing, but telling: The ‘seizure of power’ bully Andreas Bühl, CDU parliamentary director, was born in the GDR in 1987, but during his educational career he may never have heard that industry, banks and the Reichswehr legally transferred power to the Reich in 1933 NSDAP carried out. ‘Seizure of power’ is Nazi speak.”
“Thuringia has once again managed to get into the spotlight of the German public.” writes that Thuringian General. “Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen with historical culture or picturesque landscapes, but rather through a political buffoonery in the Thuringian state parliament. Actually a personnel formality, the election of a state parliament president turns into a legal, parliamentary exchange of blows. […] It’s an unworthy spectacle.”
Die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: “(…) a ban on the AfD, which is now being called for (…), will prevent some problems from even arising. (…) But this may be why there have been no majorities for a ban proposal so far, because such a procedure (…) brings with it completely different difficulties (…). The appearance of the AfD’s senior president was not exactly (…) like something out of the textbook. On the other hand, the accusation of ‘seizure of power’ is also quite high-caliber (…). A constitutional crisis can be solved; checks and balances are not paralyzed. (…) You can change rules of procedure and constitutions (…) that does not change the will of the voters reflected in the people’s representatives and the right to equal treatment of all parties. Firewalls in procedures and the constitution apply to everyone – but do not replace political debate.”
Die Nuremberg News comment: “The really bad thing: Reconciliation or a halfway civilized way of dealing with each other is not in sight in Thuringia. In every dispute about the rules of procedure, the constitutional judges will be called upon. And you don’t even believe the other side anymore, that the sky is blue and that Grass is green.”
At t-online.de can be read: “The bitter thing is: All of this could have been avoided. The AfD’s position in this case is not – as so often – absurd. It simply takes advantage of the fact that the state parliament’s rules of procedure are not clear in some places […] At the heart of this are two rather dull procedural questions […]. Both ambiguities could have been cleared up in advance. The Greens pushed for the rules of procedure at the end of 2023 […] to formulate more clearly. But that failed – and precisely because of the CDU, which is now protesting particularly loudly against the AfD’s actions.”
Finally, he comments Stern: “So it happened again: Björn Höcke’s AfD presented the Thuringian parliament. The parallels between September 26th, 2024 and February 5th, 2020, when the AfD installed an FDP prime minister in office, are obvious. On Saturday it should “Until then, the 8th Thuringian State Parliament will remain what it is: not constituted and maximally damaged.”
MDR (gh)
