Scandal in the Bundestag: session interrupted - Foreign Minister Maas has to apologize sheepishly

Excitement in the Bundestag on Friday: There was an interruption. Only when Foreign Minister Heiko Maas appeared did it go on.

• At one in the Bundestag on Friday there was temporarily no minister on the government bank.
• Foreign Minister Heiko Maas had to explain his disappearance.
• Parliamentarians are angry at this behavior.
  

Berlin - yawning emptiness temporarily prevailed on the government bench in the German Bundestag on Friday. The entire federal cabinet was missing , even though there was a debate about foreign cultural and educational policy . Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) disappeared from the plenary hall after his speech because of an unfortunate appointment collision. The reason was a small arms conference with about ten foreign ministers from the Western Balkans and other European countries, which took place at the same time in the Federal Foreign Office.

Bundestag interrupted - Heiko Maas apologized for the incident

After Maas disappeared from the boardroom, the first parliamentary manager of the Greens faction, Britta Haßelmann, asked for an interruption of the session. Maas came back to the plenary hall after a few minutes and apologized for his absence. "But of course I will stay here until the end of the debate," he assured.

Bundestag scandal around Minister Heiko Maas in the video:

"I am sorry."

The Bundestag forces foreign minister @HeikoMaas to return to the plenary because there is not a single minister present.

Maas explains his absence and assures:

"I will of course stay here until the end of the debate." pic.twitter.com/m9FfgMHx1X

The behavior of the first parliamentary managing director of the FDP faction, Marco Buschmann, was not well received. "The Federal Government is getting worse and worse : Politically, it is no longer successful. And now all decency towards the parliament is lost, ”was the comment of the FDP politician.

The CDU member of the Bundestag Matthias Hauer commented critically on Twitter: "The parliament represents the sovereign. The minister can very well take the debates (during the core period of the Bundestag, which fall under his responsibility) into account when planning his appointment. And otherwise, he can properly log out / apologize - he hadn't done that. "

The parliament represents the sovereign. The minister can very well take the debates (during the core period of the Bundestag, which fall under his responsibility) into account when planning his appointment. And otherwise, he can properly log out / apologize - he hadn't done that.

Bundestag: The AfD parliamentary group leader Alexander Gauland caused a sensation

But the unscheduled break on Friday is not the only incident that has caused excitement in the German Bundestag in recent days. At a Holocaust memorial event on Wednesday, AfD parliamentary group leader Alexander Gauland caused the displeasure of some politician colleagues. He seemed to be napping at a speech by the President of Israel. Some other members of the Bundestag rated this behavior as disrespectful.

Regardless of whether #Gauland actually sleeps or supports himself with his head bowed for minutes: This attitude is disrespectful when the President of Israel is speaking in memory of the victims of National Socialism in the #Bundestag. pic.twitter.com/UP6IuN44bA

Gauland is probably not currently lingering too much with this criticism of his behavior. As was announced on Thursday, his immunity was lifted because the Frankfurt prosecutor's office investigated him in a private tax offense .

dpa, cia