2024-08-15 00:12:12
The President of the Bundestag, Bärbel Bas, has criticized the Federal Government’s response in a previously unpublished letter. Now opposition parties are also calling on t-online to be more open from the government.
The opposition is calling on the government to respond to parliamentary questions in more detail, on time and in full. The CDU, the Left Party and the BSW criticise the federal government for undermining parliamentary control by not providing answers or by providing incomplete answers.
The government lacks the necessary respect for parliament, complains the parliamentary manager of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, Thorsten Frei. “The President of the Bundestag is right to complain about the federal government’s response. The Chancellor and his government are trying more and more to evade parliamentary control,” Frei told t-online.
Not answering parliamentary questions or inquiries properly or on time is not a trivial offense, “the right of members of the Bundestag to ask questions is a high constitutional asset,” says Frei. The opposition’s work must not be “jeopardized by this disgraceful behavior.”
The Chancellor and his government are trying to evade parliamentary control more and more
Thorsten Frei, CDU/CSU parliamentary group
The general secretary of the Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) coalition, Christian Leye, told t-online that he hopes and expects that “the federal government will noticeably improve its response behavior.” He welcomes the letter from Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD) to the head of the Federal Chancellery, Wolfgang Schmidt.
In the letter, which t-online has exclusively obtained, Bas sharply criticized the federal government. According to Bas, there are increasing complaints about the federal government’s response to parliamentary questions from the Bundestag factions and groups. She views this development “with growing concern.”
With the right to ask questions, we fulfill our control function over the government. That is our duty as MPs in the opposition.
Christian Leye, BSW
- Read Bas’ criticism of the Federal Government’s response here
The letter is from May 2024. “I haven’t noticed any change so far,” Leye told t-online. He even doubts “whether the federal government is willing to bring about a change at all.” The BSW had already sent small inquiries to the federal government on this topic. In the replies, the federal government writes that it treats every inquiry ‘with the utmost care.'” Either the federal government “has no awareness of the problem here in view of the complaints received,” said Leye, “or it is deliberately glossing over the situation.”
“The response from the federal government is abysmal,” summarizes Christian Görke, parliamentary manager of the Left Party in the Bundestag. “The answers are as unpunctual as Deutsche Bahn,” Görke told t-online. In addition, the federal government is “tricking people with platitudes or hiding behind alleged reasons for secrecy.”
The federal government’s response is abysmal.
Christian Görke, The Left
The Left Party has also seen no improvement in the practice of answering minor questions or individual questions since Bas’s letter. According to Görke, this is not a question of what the opposition hopes for, but rather, in his opinion, it is a question of “the federal government acting in accordance with the constitution and answering the opposition in a timely and comprehensive manner.” In Christian Görke’s opinion, the federal government is miles away from the idea of ”a ‘new form of government’.”
The Federal Press Office has now issued a written statement: “The Federal Government takes the letter from the President of Parliament very seriously and has great understanding for her request to answer parliamentary questions properly and in a timely manner. The head of the Federal Chancellery, Schmidt, also made this clear in his reply letter of June 11. At the same time, the Federal Government cannot identify any deviations in terms of compliance with deadlines compared to the response behavior in previous legislative periods. In total, the Federal Government has already been asked more than 20,000 minor questions and written questions in the current legislative period. The vast majority of these were answered on time. It is very important to the Federal Government that the House of Parliament can count on parliamentary questions being answered correctly and on time. The Federal Government therefore consistently investigates every complaint. Where possible and necessary, remedial action will be taken to ensure a consistently high level of quality in response and to respect the constitutionally protected right of MPs to ask questions and to obtain information.”