2023-12-15 12:33:56
In the debate about the letter of complaint from Mainz State Secretary Heike Raab (SPD) to the SWR, the AfD parliamentary group in the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament failed with a motion to set up a committee of inquiry. It should be clarified whether the State Secretary acted alone or had the backing of Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD), explained AfD parliamentary group leader Jan Bollinger. The special session of the state parliament a few days ago did not provide any clarification. The other parliamentary groups represented in the state parliament rejected the AfD’s request.
The SPD MP Daniel Schäffner accused the AfD faction of not being interested in clarifying the events. With its proposal, the opposition faction is pursuing the overarching goal of abolishing public broadcasting.
The Green MP Bernhard Braun also warned that the AfD parliamentary group did not want to educate, but instead wanted to damage public broadcasting. FDP parliamentary group leader Philipp Fernis denied the AfD faction that it was about defending press freedom. “What they want to do is throw brown dirt and hope something sticks.”
CDU MP Marcus Klein (CDU) said in the debate that many questions still remained unanswered even after the special session of the state parliament. That is unsatisfactory. Therefore, the processes require further discussion. However, the present application from the AfD parliamentary group is not suitable for this.
Lisa-Marie Jeckel from the Free Voters accused Bollinger of wanting to use the application to profile himself as the new strong man in the AfD parliamentary group. The Free Voters group will discuss in January whether a committee of inquiry could provide the necessary clarification.
Specifically, the case concerned a letter of complaint from Raab to the SWR state broadcaster director Ulla Fiebig from the spring about a broadcast on SWR television. The SWR correspondent Georg Link gave the following assessment in the April 11 edition: “This is probably unique in Germany that a state interior minister, who has to take political responsibility for the many deaths in this terrible Ahr disaster, continues to be state chairman His party remains.” Raab criticized this statement in her letter as “objectively wrong.” Fiebig replied to her in a letter that the correspondent’s sentence was classified as an expression of opinion and not as a statement of fact.
Timo Steppat Published/Updated: Recommendations: 30 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 10 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 5
The opposition viewed the Raab letter with a state government letterhead as an inadmissible attempt to influence reporting in favor of a party friend and as a threat against the broadcaster. Raab had already admitted errors before the special session of the state parliament requested by the CDU and Free Voters and resigned her mandates from SWR committees. Her successor there is State Secretary Denis Alt (SPD).
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