AfD: CDU politicians support Spahn's proposal for dealing with the AfD

Handelsblatt AfD: CDU politicians support Spahn's proposal for dealing with the AfD Stippler, Felix • 2 hours • 3 minutes reading time Jens Spahn wants to treat the AfD like a normal opposition party. The CDU politician is being criticized for this – even within the CDU. Some party colleagues, however, support his initiative. Deputy CDU parliamentary group leader Jens Spahn (CDU) is receiving support from fellow party members for his proposal to treat the AfD like any other opposition party. CDU politicians Phillip Amthor, Johann Wadephul, and Michael Kretschmer, among others, backed Spahn. Saxony's Prime Minister Kretschmer said on ZDF's "Morgenmagazin" that the AfD must be confronted with factual arguments. The democratic rights of every member of parliament should also apply to this party, "because otherwise you strengthen it, not weaken it." Kretschmer also warned, however: "The AfD is a right-wing extremist party; it wants to abolish democracy." There can be no cooperation or coalition with it. Spahn had proposed in the "Bild" newspaper that the AfD should be treated like any other opposition party in parliamentary procedures, rules of procedure, committees, and the consideration of minority and majority rights. Johann Wadephul, also deputy leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, raised the question of committee chair positions for the AfD. "Denying the AfD committee chair positions has allowed them to maintain their martyr status," the CDU politician told the newspapers of the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). "That's why I would be in favor of electing AfD candidates for committee chair positions if they have not attracted negative attention in the past." So far, the parties represented in the Bundestag have prevented AfD MPs from being elected as committee chairs. The AfD is the second-largest parliamentary group in the Bundestag, "we must recognize this reality," Wadephul said. According to him, however, the chairs should be able to lose their positions if they attract negative attention through negative behavior. CDU politician Philipp Amthor also defended Spahn against criticism. Spahn was "clearly not trying to trivialize the AfD," but rather "justifiably pointing out that this group should be pushed back through a passionate, substantive debate rather than through parliamentary legal tricks," the CDU member of the Bundestag told the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung."