Higher penalties for disruptive MPs, reduced allowances for missed sessions, and new rules for the election of parliamentary presidents: the coalition parties want to update the Bundestag’s rules of procedure, which are around 45 years old. “When society, technology, and the political environment change, the law must also adapt,” said CDU MP Hendrik Hoppenstedt during the plenary debate on Friday. Opposition parties, however, warned against restrictions on their rights.
The reform of the rules of procedure includes a new approach to disciplinary warnings. MPs who receive three warnings within three weeks of parliamentary sessions would now have to pay €2,000, and in repeated cases, €4,000. Both amounts would represent a doubling of the current fines. “In cases of a not merely minor violation of order or the dignity of the Bundestag,” the fine should also be imposed without prior warning, even for a first offense.
MPs who receive three warnings during a single session could also be expelled from the chamber. The new rules come amid increasing polarization in plenary debates. Parliamentary President Julia Klöckner (CDU) recently criticized a “competition” between the AfD and the Left Party for the most disciplinary warnings. “We believe that our sessions can be made more lively while remaining substantive,” said CDU politician Hoppenstedt. “Everyone can hear and see how parliamentary debates have suffered recently.”
SPD politician Johannes Fechner emphasized: “We are a role model for debate culture in Germany.” It can therefore no longer be tolerated “that hatred, agitation, and insults are being spread in parliament to this increasing extent.” The revised rules of procedure also provide for a greater reduction of MPs’ expense allowances for missed sessions. Currently, the monthly allowance of €5,350 is reduced by €200 for unexcused absences and €100 for excused absences. These penalties are now to be increased to €300 and €200, respectively.
Another change concerns the election of vice presidents, which will in the future be regulated separately from the presidential election. The amendment is intended to make it clear that the vice president’s office depends on the Bundestag’s free and secret vote. This principle is to take precedence over the so-called basic mandate, which entitles every parliamentary group to at least one vice president. The AfD had regularly referred to this rule when its candidates failed in vice presidential elections.
A new provision also allows for the removal of vice presidents. A vote to remove a vice president requires a proposal from at least one-third of MPs. If at least two-thirds vote in favor, the vice president will be removed.
The planned changes drew sharp criticism from the opposition. AfD MP Stephan Brandner acknowledged that there are “a few sensible approaches,” but called it fundamentally “a frontal attack on the rights of the opposition and the rights of MPs.” He accused the coalition parties during the debate of “eroding minority rights and parliamentarism.” The Bundestag presidency could now “rule through and almost arbitrarily deny the right to speak.”
Ina Latendorf of the Left Party also warned against “reducing opposition rights” and suggested that Bundestag committees “should generally meet publicly.” “We need more transparency,” she said. Green MP Irene Mihalic said the new rules do not go far enough in some areas. However, she emphasized: “The AfD is the dark counter-narrative to the Basic Law, and we can no longer tolerate that corresponding speeches in the Bundestag become normal.”
Following the debate, the proposals were referred for further consideration to the leading Committee on Election Verification, Immunity, and Rules of Procedure. The current rules of procedure of the Bundestag date back to 1980.
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