AfD parliamentary group in the German Bundestag

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Logo of the AfD parliamentary group in the German Bundestag
Group leadership in the plenary session of the Bundestag, 2019

The AfD parliamentary group in the German Bundestag (also AfD parliamentary group ) is the parliamentary group of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the German Bundestag .

In the 2017 federal election , the AfD jumped the five percent hurdle for the first time with 12.6% of the vote . It is represented by 89 members in the 19th German Bundestag . The parliamentary group is the third strongest in parliament (after the CDU / CSU and the SPD parliamentary groups ) and the largest in the opposition , which it is leading . Five members have resigned from the parliamentary group (and in all cases also from the party) since the beginning of the legislative period .

history

The then co-federal spokeswoman for the AfD, Frauke Petry , declared at the party's first federal press conference on September 25, 2017 that she did not want to become a member of the AfD parliamentary group for reasons of content. The parliamentary group then constituted itself on September 26, 2017 in its first meeting with 93 members. In this Alice Weidel and Alexander Gauland elected Group Chairman. Bernd Baumann was elected First Parliamentary Managing Director . Other managing directors of the parliamentary group are Jürgen Braun , Michael Espendiller and Hansjörg Müller .

With the resignation of Mario Mieruch on October 4, 2017, the parliamentary group still consists of 92 members. He justified his departure with a lack of demarcation from the right wing around Björn Höcke .

On October 5, 2017, Roland Hartwig , Peter Felser , Tino Chrupalla , Leif-Erik Holm and Beatrix von Storch were elected deputy group chairmen. Hans-Joachim Berg was appointed parliamentary group manager on October 17, 2017.

In the constituent session of the Bundestag on October 24, 2017, the AfD parliamentary group nominated Albrecht Glaser for the post of Bundestag Vice President to which it was entitled. The absolute majority required in the first two ballots, however, required the approval of members of the other parliamentary groups or, in order to obtain the required simple majority in the third ballot, the abstention of members of the other parliamentary groups. There, however, Glaser met with criticism because of statements contradicting the Basic Law in the area of religious freedom . As a result, Glaser did not receive the required majority in any of three ballots. After a fourth ballot for Glaser was rejected by the Council of Elders , Gauland declared on the sidelines of the election of the Chancellor that he would not nominate a candidate capable of reaching a consensus, since "the other MPs of the AfD have no other opinion about Islam than Glaser". After Glaser, three other AfD candidates were not elected for the office of Bundestag Vice President, most recently Paul Podolay in September 2019.

On September 12, 2018, the AfD left the plenary hall as a group during a speech by the SPD politician Johannes Kahrs on the 2019 federal budget. The reason for this was Kahrs' statement that "no solutions can be expected from right-wing extremists," which caused great resentment within the AfD. The MPs ignored a request by Bundestag Vice President Hans-Peter Friedrich to sit down.

On December 17, 2018, the MP Uwe Kamann resigned from the party and parliamentary group on the grounds that there were “different views on political and specialist political orientations”.

Since November 13, 2019, the AfD has been chairing two Bundestag committees. The budget committee is headed by Peter Boehringer and the tourism committee by Sebastian Münzenmaier . In addition, Stephan Brandner temporarily headed the Committee on Legal Affairs and Consumer Protection, but he was voted out of office by all other groups except the AfD group due to several controversial statements that these groups classified as anti-Semitic .

On December 18, 2019, the MP Lars Herrmann resigned from the AfD - and thus also from the parliamentary group in the Bundestag. The reason he gave was that he was excluded from the Saxony regional group in the Bundestag for criticizing the Thuringian AfD chairman and wing boss Björn Höcke without having been heard. Herrmann is the fourth AfD MP to leave the parliamentary group before the end of the legislative period.

On January 27, 2020 Verena Hartmann also announced her resignation from the party and parliamentary group, which further reduced the number of parliamentary group members to 89 members. Since the 12th electoral term (first since reunification), no party has lost so many parliamentary group members in such a short time by changing parliamentary groups. In 7 electoral terms, the SPD and FDP each lost 5 parliamentary groups through transferring to another party or by non-faction.

By withdrawing from the parliamentary group, the AfD is losing a share of the speaking time in the Bundestag debates. Speaking time depends on the size of the political groups.

reception

After research by u. a. Kai Biermann and Astrid Geisler are among the 297 employees of the AfD MPs and the AfD parliamentary group at least 27 activists and supporters of right-wing extremist organizations. 18 AfD members of the Bundestag employ people from this milieu, including supporters of the NPD and the neo-Nazi, forbidden organization Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend (HDJ), activists of the Identitarian Movement and the radical right-wing group One Percent for Our Country , extreme right-wing fraternities and new- right ideologues. René Springer , for example, employs Jean-Pascal Hohm, who was dismissed from the state parliamentary group of the AfD Brandenburg in spring 2017 and , according to Olaf Sundermeyer, one of “the most active identities ever”. The parliamentary group chairman Gauland employed an ex-squad of the banned HDJ until January 2018, who had previously worked for the Brandenburg AfD parliamentary group at least since the beginning of 2015.

An employee of Petr Bystron , Eric Weber , was previously an employee of a member of the state parliament of the NPD Saxony and author of the NPD party newspaper German Voice . Since September 2018 Manuel Ochsenreiter , editor-in-chief of the right-wing extremist magazine First! , employed by AfD member Markus Frohnmaier in the Bundestag. When asked, the Bundestag police confirmed that another employee of the AfD parliamentary group "after the result of the background check" according to the house rules was not issued an access badge. This would have given him free access to the buildings without an individual security check that visitors or accredited journalists are subjected to at the entrances.

Research by the taz, supported by the Otto Brenner Foundation , together with apabiz and the magazine Der Rechts Rand, on connections between more than 350 parliamentary group and MP employees, showed that it was not a question of individual cases that the AfD also had members and sympathizers of right-wing extremists Bring groups to the Bundestag. According to this, there would be connections from 23 of the 92 parliamentary offices to extreme right-wing parties, think tanks, the media, fraternities or other organizations. Research by the daily Die Welt also revealed that the AfD “sometimes blurs the line between democrat and extremist”, “the parliamentary group with its MPs is much further to the right” “than many would have initially suspected”.

The AfD parliamentary group came to 66 roll-call votes in the period from October 2018 to June 2019 with a deficit of 13.57 percent. AfD MPs were absent most frequently on average for all members of the Bundestag in these 66 votes; according to an analysis by the political magazine Kontraste, the average was 10.73 percent. When asked, the parliamentary group leader Weidel commented that "the others [were] ... far more absent".

Research by Welt am Sonntag revealed that almost every tenth AfD MP is under criminal investigation or has been convicted. This quota is more than twice as high as for all other parties. The crimes include "fraud, breach of trust, perjury, tax evasion, sexual coercion and aiding and abetting dangerous physical harm up to and including sedition". The AfD is also the front runner in terms of the number of MPs whose parliamentary immunity for criminal proceedings has been lifted.

Gauland's immunity waived

By resolution of the Bundestag, Alexander Gauland's immunity as a member of the Bundestag was lifted on January 30, 2020. The majority of the AfD MPs abstained. The public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt am Main had applied for a waiver in order to be able to investigate criminal proceedings. According to the Chief Public Prosecutor Nadja Niesen, Gauland is suspected of tax evasion in the five-digit range. His apartment in the Berlin suburb in Potsdam was searched in the morning by the investigative authorities. The searches only concerned the suspect's registered address. Bundestag offices were not searched. An AfD parliamentary group spokesman told AFP that the investigation was 'about an old procedure from the year before last'. The group wanted to comment in more detail on this.

Parliamentary group

Group leaders
image Surname Regional association
2017-11-29-Alice Weidel-Maischberger-5664.jpg Alice Weidel Baden-Württemberg
Gauland2014 (cropped) .jpg Alexander Gauland Brandenburg
Deputy Group Chairperson
Surname Regional association
Tino Chrupalla Saxony
Peter Felser Bavaria
Leif-Erik Holm Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Sebastian Munzenmaier Rhineland-Palatinate
Beatrix von Storch Berlin
Parliamentary managing directors
Surname Regional association Remarks
Bernd Baumann Hamburg First parliamentary manager
Roland Hartwig North Rhine-Westphalia Second parliamentary manager
Götz Frömming Berlin Third Parliamentary Managing Director
Enrico Komning Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Fourth parliamentary manager

National groups

Within the AfD parliamentary group, the members of the federal states meet in joint state groups . The regional groups elect their spokesperson.

country Members State group spokesman
Baden-Württemberg 11 Marc Bernhard
Bavaria 14th Rainer Kraft
Berlin 4th Beatrix von Storch
Brandenburg 5 Steffen Kotré
Bremen 1 Frank Magnitz
Hamburg 1 Bernd Baumann
Hesse 6th Martin Hohmann
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 3 Leif-Erik Holm
Lower Saxony 7th Armin-Paul Hampel
North Rhine-Westphalia 13 vacant
Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland 5 Sebastian Munzenmaier
Saxony 10 Heiko Heßenkemper
Saxony-Anhalt 4th Martin Reichardt
Schleswig-Holstein 2 Bruno Hollnagel
Thuringia 5 Stephan Brandner

See also

Web links

Commons : AfD parliamentary group  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • afdbundestag.de - website
  • The 453 connections of the AfD faction employees and MPs, memberships, occupations, environment on www.taz.de
  • Kai Biermann, Astrid Geisler, Christina Holzinger, Paul Middelhoff, Karsten Polke-Majewski and Tilman Steffen (October 24, 2017): AfD parliamentary group: Right to extreme in the Bundestag . In: ZEIT Online. An overview article that introduces the members of the federal party of the 19th legislative period in the German Bundestag (2017-2011) as well as the associated currents within the AfD. Retrieved April 5, 2019.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ AfD parliamentary group in the German Bundestag: homepage. Retrieved March 27, 2019 .
  2. ^ German Bundestag - AfD parliamentary group. Retrieved March 27, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Waiver of parliamentary group membership: AfD boss Petry causes a scandal. In: Spiegel Online . September 25, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Markus Kollberg: Somebody is missing! In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . September 26, 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2017 .
  5. ^ Gauland and Weidel elected as AfD parliamentary group chairmen. In: WeltN24 . September 26, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2017 .
  6. ↑ AfD parliamentary group awards posts. In: Handelsblatt . September 27, 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Mario Mieruch leaves the AfD parliamentary group in the Bundestag. In: tagesschau.de . October 4, 2017. Retrieved October 4, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Focus: AfD founding member follows Frauke-Petry and leaves the parliamentary group. October 4, 2017. Retrieved October 4, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Beatrix von Storch becomes vice chairman of the AfD parliamentary group. In: Rheinische Post . October 5, 2017, accessed March 22, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Ex-employee of the Bundestag administration: AfD appoints Hans-Joachim Berg as parliamentary group manager. In: Handelsblatt . October 18, 2017. Retrieved October 18, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Why the other parties don't want to vote for Glaser. In: Zeit Online . October 23, 2017, archived from the original on October 23, 2017 ; accessed on October 23, 2017 .
  12. ↑ AfD candidate Glaser also fails in the third ballot. In: Spiegel Online . October 24, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2018 .
  13. ↑ Markus Wehner: Gauland: All AfD MPs think like glasses . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . March 14, 2018.
  14. ↑ AfD candidate Podolay also fails tagesschau.de, accessed on September 26, 2019
  15. ↑ AfD leaves the Bundestag after being insulted by Kahrs. September 12, 2018, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  16. ↑ AfD wants to throw out state chief Sayn-Wittgenstein. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. December 17, 2018, accessed August 19, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Aachen member of the Bundestag Uwe Kamann leaves the AfD. In: Aachener Nachrichten . December 17, 2018, accessed January 1, 2019.
  18. ^ AfD heads three committees in the Bundestag. In: Focus online . January 31, 2018, accessed January 31, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Voting out of AfD politicians. November 13, 2019, accessed November 16, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Tilman Steffen, dpa: Saxony: "That is not what I imagine under AfD politics" . In: The time . December 18, 2019, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed December 18, 2019]).
  21. ↑ AfD parliamentary group loses more MPs. In: tagesschau.de . January 27, 2020.
  22. ^ Maria Fiedler: The dropout program Why the AfD parliamentary group could continue to crumble, in: tagesschau.de . February 5, 2020,
  23. ↑ Calculated according to the Bundestag documents “ Group size and change of faction ”, as of January 28, 2020
  24. ↑ AfD loses speaking time in the Bundestag , January 28, 2020, ts news agency
  25. ^ A b Kai Biermann , Astrid Geisler , Johannes Radke, Tilman Steffen: AfD MPs deal with right-wing extremists and enemies of the constitution . In: time online . March 21, 2018.
  26. ↑ Olaf Sundermeyer , Jan Wiese: The Identitarians: Creative Storm Troop of the AfD . ( Memento of September 4, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) In: RBB . June 16, 2017.
  27. ↑ Alexander Fröhlich: Gauland's Nazi shadow . ( Memento from March 23, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) In: Der Tagesspiegel . 19th March 2018.
  28. ^ Frankfurter Rundschau: AfD: Referent from the right margin . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . ( fr.de [accessed October 24, 2018]).
  29. ↑ Malene Gürgen, Christian Jakob , Sabine am Orde: 300 right-wing helpers in the Bundestag . In: taz . April 13, 2018.
  30. ↑ Alexej Hock: Radical whisperers . In: The world . March 21, 2018.
  31. ↑ a b AfD MPs are most often missing from tagesschau.de from September 26, 2019, accessed on September 27, 2019
  32. ↑ Augsburger Allgemeine: AfD MPs are most often absent from votes in the Bundestag. Retrieved September 26, 2019 .
  33. ↑ Uwe Müller: Almost every tenth AfD member has trouble with the law. May 6, 2018, accessed November 6, 2019 .
  34. ↑ Alexander Gauland suspended under suspicion of immunity - House search in Potsdam , Der Tagesspiegel, January 30, 2020 1 p.m.
  35. ↑ German Bundestag printed matter 19/16921 recommendation for a resolution by the Committee on Election Review , Immunity and Rules of Procedure January 30, 2020
  36. ^ Bundestag raises immunity of AfD parliamentary group leader Gauland on Deutsche Welle January 30, 2020
  37. ↑ a b c d parliamentary group in the Bundestag - Alternative for Germany. Retrieved January 16, 2018 .
  38. ↑ jojo: Change of leadership in the Baden-Württemberg state group of the AfD parliamentary group. November 8, 2018, accessed April 20, 2019 .
  39. ↑ Press release of the Bavarian regional group of the AfD parliamentary group . In: AfD Bavaria . ( afdbayern.de [accessed on January 16, 2018]).
  40. ↑ Who are the Berlin AfD MPs? Retrieved January 16, 2018 .
  41. ^ AfD regional group Brandenburg in the Bundestag. Retrieved April 11, 2018 .
  42. ^ Frank Magnitz - Alternative for Germany. Retrieved January 16, 2018 .
  43. ↑ Top candidates according to the state list for the 2017 federal election | AfD Hamburg. Retrieved January 16, 2018 .
  44. ↑ Corrected by Member of the Bundestag staff
  45. ↑ Our list | Alternative for Germany Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Retrieved January 16, 2018 .
  46. ^ State candidates of the AfD Lower Saxony for the Bundestag . In: AfD Lower Saxony - Our country, our home. ( online [accessed January 16, 2018]). State candidates of the AfD Lower Saxony for the Bundestag ( Memento from July 29, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
  47. ↑ Aachen member of the Bundestag Uwe Kamann leaves the AfD , on aachener-zeitung.de.
  48. ↑ Statement of the AfD state group in North Rhine-Westphalia on Dr. Frauke Petry | AfD NRW. Archived from the original on September 27, 2017 ; accessed on January 16, 2018 .
  49. ^ Constitution of the AfD regional group Rhineland-Palatinate / Saarland in the German Bundestag . In: AfD Kompakt . October 10, 2017 ( afdkompakt.de [accessed on January 16, 2018]).
  50. ↑ AfD-Sachsen aktuell - No. 34/2017. (PDF; 2.79 MB) p. 2 , accessed on February 6, 2018 .
  51. ↑ List candidates | AfD Saxony-Anhalt. Retrieved January 16, 2018 .
  52. ↑ shz.de: BTW 2017: These 26 politicians from SH move into the Bundestag | shz.de . In: shz . ( shz.de [accessed on January 16, 2018]).
  53. ^ Alternative for Germany - Thuringia. Retrieved January 16, 2018 .