Former CDU General Secretary Ruprecht Polenz has sharply criticized the proposal put forward by Hessian Prime Minister Boris Rhein (CDU) regarding the election of AfD candidates to chairs of parliamentary committees. Speaking to the “Handelsblatt”, Polenz remarked that it is neither the role of a party leader nor a prime minister to dictate how the parliament must organize its work. According to him, once the rules of procedure have set up an election, the members of the respective committee should decide on their own.
Rhein had justified his initiative in the newspaper “Stern” by citing the will of the voters: “The party has been elected, and that is how one should deal with it.” Polenz contested this view, stating that he would never appoint a politician as a committee chair if they did not explicitly distance themselves from the reliably right-extremist parts of their party, and if they failed to demonstrate this distance through actions. He also objected to Rhein’s rejection of proceedings to ban the AfD. Instead, Polenz called for an urgent review of the AfD’s constitutionality by the Federal Constitutional Court, contrasting his view sharply with Boris Rhein’s stance.
SPD Member of Parliament Ralf Stegner also criticized Rhein’s initiative. According to Stegner in the “Handelsblatt”, “As for the AfD itself, any normalization or rapprochement with these enemies of democracy is completely indefensible.” He asserted that those who seek to destroy Germany’s liberal democracy should not be met with concessions, saying, “The only lesson Germans should have learned from their history is: No more right-extremists influencing politics.”
Stegner stressed that a banning procedure and political demarcation are necessary actions. Yet, he also argued that there must be serious consideration given to how to win back voters from the AfD. He called for “better politics,” warning that critical issues like foreign and security policy should not be left to the AfD uncontested.
