Hessian Minister-President Boris Rhein (CDU) is pushing back against the practice of denying the AfD reserved committee chair positions in the Bundestag. Rhein argued to Stern that the AfD should be allowed to take over committee chairmanships, just as is customary in the State Parliament of Hesse and other regional parliaments. “The party has been elected, and that is how one should deal with it,” the CDU politician stated further.
Rhein expressed his view that the concept of a “brand wall” is inaccurate. For the Union parties, he clarified, the principle should be to “clearly distance ourselves from the AfD, but not exclude the party,” a concept that should also apply to parliamentary work. Rhein described himself as an advocate for a policy of clear red lines, a stance similar to that promoted by Andreas Rödder. This principle should apply both to substantive and personnel matters.
Rödder had resigned from his position as head of the CDU fundamental values commission after advocating for a more flexible approach to dealing with the AfD. He later developed the strategy of red lines regarding possible joint voting procedures with the partially right-extremist party, defining the western orientation of the Federal Republic as one of these key boundaries.
Furthermore, Rhein spoke out against initiating a ban procedure. “In my perception, there is a unanimous opinion within our party: We are not pursuing an AfD ban,” he noted. He warned that the procedure would take at least five years and that the outcome remained highly uncertain. “I advise against combating the AfD through legal means; instead, it should be done politically,” he told Stern.
This stance contrasts with the position of North Rhine-Westphalian Government Leader Hendrik Wüst (CDU), who had previously called for the establishment of a federal-state working group to examine a ban on the AfD.
