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AfD MPs in the Bundestag (2020)
Photo:
Kay Nietfeld / dpa
The FDP parliamentary group would like to get rid of their seats in the Bundestag next to the AfD to the Union.
"It's not fun to sit next to the AfD," said parliamentary group vice-president Stephan Thomae recently as a reason.
Because the liberals get most of the rabble of the right-wing populists.
The Left now supports a new seating arrangement in the Bundestag and wants to help the FDP to give up its seat next to the AfD to the CDU and CSU.
"Every democrat who no longer wants to sit next to the AfD has my full support," said the parliamentary manager of the left parliamentary group, Jan Korte, the Reuters news agency.
"In the opposition we had a trusting cooperation with the FDP, especially when it came to civil rights or the rights of parliament," he added as a reason why the left wanted to support the liberals.
Switching seats is politically sensitive in connection with the formation of a traffic light coalition. On the one hand, the FDP is relying on the SPD and the Greens to give the new partner the necessary majority against the Union. On the other hand, the three traffic light parties want to create the impression that they are forming a coalition of the center - this would be visually underlined by the fact that they now occupy the center seats in the Bundestag.
Left-wing politician Korte provided another reason why his parliamentary group wants to support the liberals' wishes: »I also see the wish to no longer sit next to the AfD as a sign that the door is open for cooperation with the right-wing extremists of the AfD is closed for all time and processes like in Thuringia are never repeated, «he said, referring to February 5, 2020 in Erfurt.
At that time, the FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich had himself elected Prime Minister in the Thuringian state parliament with votes from the AfD.
as / Reuters
