{"id":2415261,"date":"2025-03-25T18:16:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T22:16:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/afd-lawmakers-take-their-seats-in-unwelcoming-bundestag-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-03-25T18:19:27","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T22:19:27","slug":"afd-lawmakers-take-their-seats-in-unwelcoming-bundestag-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/afd-lawmakers-take-their-seats-in-unwelcoming-bundestag-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"AfD lawmakers take their seats in unwelcoming Bundestag &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fafd-lawmakers-take-their-seats-in-unwelcoming-bundestag-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2415261&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The German parliament, or Bundestag, is experiencing a tumultuous start following the seating of lawmakers from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. This far-right party has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-call-for-investigation-into-newly-confirmed-vanita-gupta\/\" title=\"Republicans Call for Investigation Into Newly Confirmed Vanita Gupta\">faced significant opposition<\/a> from mainstream parties, which are striving to keep it marginalized. During the inaugural session, Gregor Gysi, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/clarence-thomas-the-supreme-court-could-be-the-most-dangerous-branch-of-government\/\" title=\"Clarence Thomas: The Supreme Court Could Be The \u2018Most Dangerous\u2019 Branch Of Government\">longest-serving member<\/a>, delivered a speech urging collaboration among various parties despite their differences. He emphasized the need for mutual respect, even though his address was largely ignored by members of rival parties. <\/p>\n<p>The AfD, which has seen a ample rise in electoral support\u2014from approximately 10% to over 20%\u2014is perceived as too extreme for modern German politics, with ongoing discussions among mainstream parties about potentially designating it as an &#8220;extremist&#8221; association to pursue a ban.With Julia Kl\u00f6ckner elected as the new president of the Bundestag, there are concerns about reaching consensus on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mccarthy-rejects-power-share-with-democrats-to-keep-speakership-were-in-the-majority-no-surrender\/\" title=\"McCarthy refuses to share power with Democrats for speakership, asserting majority rule. No surrender.\">pressing national issues<\/a> like immigration and economic revitalization, especially given the parliamentary commitment to excluding the AfD from power. Kl\u00f6ckner has pledged to maintain decency and civility in parliamentary discourse despite the contentious habitat.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">AfD lawmakers take their seats in unwelcoming Bundestag<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2074101\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/germany\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">German parliament<\/a> is off to a rocky start as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/3332472\/germany-outsiders-understanding-alternative-for-germany\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Alternative for Germany<\/a>, or AfD, lawmakers took their seats among rival politicians devoted to keeping the growing party out of the mainstream.<\/p>\n<p>Parliamentarians convened the first meeting of the new Bundestag with a speech from The Left party member Gregor Gysi, who as the longest-serving Bundestag member is given the honorary title &ldquo;father of the House&rdquo; and allowed to give an opening speech without time limits.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/house\/3358014\/john-ratcliffe-signal-approved-communication-biden-administration\/\">Ratcliffe: Signal was approved for communication use by Biden administration<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3358028\/pope-francis-doctors-considered-allowing-him-die\/\">Pope Francis&#8217;s doctors considered allowing him to die before unexpected recovery<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3357279\/turkey-government-arrests-istanbul-protesters-violence\/\">Turkey arrests over 1,300 Istanbul protesters as Erdogan rebukes &#8216;movement of violence&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>In his <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">wide-ranging address<\/a> that some lawmakers from rival parties performatively ignored, Gysi tried to urge the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3325924\/cdu-promises-germans-stable-solutions-immigration-terrorism-defense-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Christian Democratic Union<\/a>, The Left, Greens, and Social Democrats to work together despite their vastly differing views on governance.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We simply have to learn to respect that these differences exist,&rdquo; the father of the House said. &ldquo;If we want to achieve more credibility with the population, we should &hellip; not always insinuate the worst possible thing about people with different opinions.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The AfD party faction votes during the constituent session of the newly elected German Parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo\/Markus Schreiber)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>AfD is not welcome in this hypothetical unity movement, however, as officials in the mainstream parties have sought to place a &ldquo;firewall&rdquo; around the party, accusing them of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3327030\/afd-and-antifa-both-want-nazis-out-in-berlin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">being too &ldquo;far-right&rdquo;<\/a> for modern German politics.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Gysi&rsquo;s role as father of the House is itself the result of coordinated anti-AfD maneuvering.<\/p>\n<p>The role traditionally went to the oldest member of the Bundestag by age, which would be sitting lawmaker and past AfD leader Alexander Gauland, 84. That current system was adopted in 2017 to ensure a member of AfD would not receive the honor.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the four establishment parties have even floated the idea of legally designating AfD as an &ldquo;extremist&rdquo; organization, which would then open up a route to ban their party via the judiciary.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We from the AfD are stronger than ever before,&rdquo; said Bernd Baumann, parliamentary leader for AfD, during the Tuesday opening address. &ldquo;You will not thwart our rise with your tricks.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>AfD <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3327754\/conservative-opposition-wins-german-election-afd-in-second-with-strongest-postwar-result\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">doubled its support<\/a> in the February election, rising from approximately 10% to over 20% of the electorate, expanding from 83 seats to 152 seats.<\/p>\n<p>But with the rest of parliament committed to keeping them away from the levers of power, their second-place finish means nothing. It will require a 25% share of the Bundestag for AfD to exercise any power, that quarter-share allowing it to launch government inquiries unilaterally.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Julia Kloeckner reacts after being elected new Parliament President during the constituent session of the newly elected German Parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo\/Ebrahim Noroozi)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>CDU parliamentarian Julia Kl&ouml;ckner was elected as president of the Bundestag with 383 votes, taking the reins of a parliament that can find virtually no common ground on issues such as national security, immigration, ecological concerns, and how to revitalize the country&rsquo;s stagnating economy.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kl&ouml;ckner, a former agriculture minister, promised to be &ldquo;nonpartisan, calm, and undaunted&rdquo; in her role.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There is a very clear yardstick for me: decency,&rdquo; Kl&ouml;ckner told her peers. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We must conduct and endure controversial discourse &hellip; according to clear rules,&rdquo; she continued. &ldquo;I will take care that we deal with each other in a civilized way. And if we don&rsquo;t do that, learn to.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2074101\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2074101\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AfD lawmakers face hostility as they join the Bundestag<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3468,"featured_media":2415262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AP25084376068759.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[47181,52133,3946,3673,5894],"class_list":["post-2415261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-afd","tag-bundestag","tag-germany","tag-lawmakers","tag-politics"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AP25084376068759.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2415261"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2415265,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415261\/revisions\/2415265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2415262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2415261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2415261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2415261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}