In the middle of his speech, Matthias Hauer suddenly stopped, his eyes fixed, his hands shaking. Colleagues hurried to help the CDU member of parliament. Hauer had to lie down in the plenum, was later taken to the hospital.
The case of Hauer keeps parliamentarians busy hours later. The political groups agreed to end this Thursday at 10 pm - much earlier than planned. It's about a sign of pause, they say.
Anke Domscheit-Berg, the network spokeswoman for the Left Party, now wants to initiate a debate on working conditions in the Bundestag. On Twitter she reports in several messages about the stress in her everyday life. In an interview with SPIEGEL, she explains the background.
SPIEGEL: Ms. Domscheit-Berg, right after the collapse of your colleague Matthias Hauer, you have complained on Twitter about the working conditions of MEPs. Why?
Anke Domscheit-Berg: Of course I do not know what was the cause in this case. But you just too often realize that our work has physical consequences that it should not have. If you want to get involved politically, this should not endanger life and health.
SPIEGEL: What do you mean?
Domscheit-Berg: We just had the debate about Angela Merkel's tremor attacks. Sahra Wagenknecht had to step down because of a burnout. In this legislature two colleagues died. In my district association, a comrade just fell over dead - in his mid 40s. It's just so many cases. The price is too high.
SPIEGEL: What's so hard?
Domscheit-Berg: We work under misanthropic conditions. For example, we sit in the plenum for hours, often well past midnight, but are not even allowed to drink there. When I was new to the Bundestag in 2017, I tapped a cup of water in the foyer on a dispenser and wanted to go to plenary with it. A usher kept me up and told me that it was against the dignity of the house, that it was not a snack bar here. That's irrational, it's not about putting soda cans on the tables. Also eating is forbidden. Members of parliament secretly nibble student food under the tables or push in chocolate chocolates because they are often hungry, there are no breaks and you can go out in debates from your own area of expertise.
SPIEGEL: Did you surprise the strict rules?
Domscheit-Berg: Absolutely. I also did not realize that the debates go so often into the dolls. This is especially extreme in this legislative period.
SPIEGEL: Why?
Domscheit-Berg: On the one hand, we now have six fractions instead of four before, all of which produce labor, submit legislative proposals and applications. In the past, it was also customary to simply make scheduled speeches at midnight. That denies the AfD. And since no-one wants to leave the stage to the right, then everyone else talks on.
SPIEGEL: What bothers you?
Domscheit-Berg: I have had very stressful jobs in my life, for example, was project manager at McKinsey. But this one tops everything. It is particularly stressful that we do not have any breaks in our busy days and that you hardly have time to prepare for things. This can be spontaneous press inquiries but also applications to which I should speak, but which I see the day before for the first time. Often I can only skim over important briefings on committee hearings when it starts. At the same time, I have to listen to the experts and come up with questions for them. We are extremely deep in our respective fields, these are highly complex issues where superficiality is forbidden. But I feel like I'm just doing multitasking from morning to night.
SPIEGEL: What's up with you?
Domscheit-Berg: Almost all Bundestag colleagues suffer from chronic sleep deprivation. When I come home at night, I can not go to bed immediately, so I'll need at least an hour to get down. After the first year, I was close to burnout. I had heart rhythm problems and sleep disturbances.
SPIEGEL: How do you deal with this?
Domscheit-Berg: With my team, I have decided on various measures, for example to relocate work meetings in the parliament restaurant in the Bundestag. Soon I will meet an ambassador about the exchange about digitization. At least I get something to eat along the way. In the summer I have two weeks fixed holidays prescribed. And for weekend work, I try to take a balancing day off. This does not always work, but often. By the way, women often find it hard to come to terms with this life.
SPIEGEL: Why is that?
Domscheit-Berg: Women are much less likely to have relatives bearing these burdens. Mostly it is still the woman who keeps her back free. Maybe that's one of the reasons for the low proportion of women in politics. The family also pays a high price for being barely at home and just tired and exhausted.
SPIEGEL: Do MPs really talk openly about these problems?
Domscheit-Berg: In and of itself, but not public. Outwardly this is a taboo topic. Colleagues are more likely to warn against such things. They say that no one understands that out there, and that only gives shitstorms against us MPs.
SPIEGEL: In fact, other jobs are exhausting as well. Are you not afraid of being accused of wailing?
Domscheit-Berg: Of course others have a hard time too. But that does not make my work a holiday job. Nobody wants a surgeon in his third shift to sneak around on one, although he can barely look straight ahead. For the same reason everyone in Germany should have an interest in not being overtired and unfocused in politics.
SPIEGEL: What do you demand?
Domscheit-Berg: First of all, we have to deal honestly with the problems. Again and again we are held up, because we would have to go through, because we get diets. But that can not be a reason why we have to thirst, get sick and can not concentrate on our work anymore. That's nonsense. There are now inter-party talks on plenary session times. But a golden path has not yet been found. In any case, as far as the water is concerned, I'm counting on civil disobedience. I will take my bottle with me every time. Shall they just throw me out?
