Bavarian State Parliament - Expert report paves way for "ExtremismClause" in Bavaria
The Bavarian State Parliament (Landtag) can deny parliamentary allowances to employees of legislators or factions who have employment contracts directly with them, but payrolls are covered by the parliament, according to a legal opinion presented by Bavarian State Parliament President Ilse Aigner in Munich. She strongly advocated for factions to take action. "We will not pay out such funds," she said.
Specifically, this pertains to employees of legislators or factions who sign employment contracts directly with them, with the parliament covering their wages. The CSU faction immediately announced they would explore all legal options.
"The legislator in Bavaria is specifically considering embedding an Extremism Clause," explained Tristan Barczak, Professor of Public Law, Security Law, and the Law of New Technologies in Passau, who authored the opinion. The Abgeordneten-, Fraktions- and Verfassungsschutzgesetz would need to be amended.
Currently, no legal basis exists
The Landtag office currently lacks a legal basis for denying wages to "clearly constitutionally hostile extremists" - this has been confirmed by the opinion. The trigger for the review and debate was a BR report stating that the AfD faction in the German Bundestag and its deputies employed over 100 workers who were active in far-right organizations. Aigner had previously acknowledged the issue in the Bavarian Landtag. Specifically, she confirmed that there were four cases, all employees of AfD deputies. In three of these cases, the Landtag had temporarily halted the payment of funds, but later resumed it.
This was the reason Aigner commissioned the opinion - because she refuses to tolerate such a gap. And the new opinion shows how a possible "Extremism Clause" could look. The AfD faction has already sharply protested.
According to the opinion, the payment of salaries for parliamentary staff can be denied if they engage or have engaged in banned organizations or parties, or if they pursue or have pursued activities against the liberal democratic basic order. The same applies to staff of parliamentary factions. In this case, a corresponding reduction of faction funds is theoretically possible. This is also possible, according to the opinion, if the affected staff act as spies for other countries.
High hurdles
However, according to Barczak's words, mere membership in certain, non-banned organizations or parties is not sufficient. In addition, the terms "Extremism" and "Constitutional Hostility" must be defined, for example based on relevant criminal convictions or the observation of the employee by the Verfassungsschutz. "We need concrete evidence that someone engages in extremist activities," he explained.
The concrete procedure, according to Barczak's description, could look like this: employees would have to submit a "declaration of loyalty to the constitution," similar to a questionnaire for public service employment. However, according to the opinion, all organizations considered constitutionally hostile would have to be listed in this questionnaire.
Verfassungsschutz inquiries are possible.
Possible translation:
Barczak might have also made inquiries to the Constitutional Protection Agency, but not as random inquiries, but as individual need-based inquiries. These would only be permissible if there were concrete doubts about the constitutional loyalty of an employee or an employee.
The ball is currently in the courts. Aigner already expressed hope that "we can find a solution together here." It could also go quickly: "During the course of the year, we could get this done if we work together."
The factions want to examine the approach
CSU Faction Leader Klaus Holetschek emphasized: "We want a robust democracy. Anyone who threatens our liberal democratic basic order cannot be supported by state means." However, the parliamentary business manager of the CSU, Michael Hofmann, also said: "We will not make hasty decisions, but will intensively examine the legal possibilities."
The SPD legal expert Horst Arnold emphasized: "We also do not want to finance enemies of the constitution with tax money. However, we warn against hasty legal measures, which would give the AfD no opportunity to stage their primitive victim role play."
The parliamentary business manager of the AfD, Christoph Maier, complained: "Arbitrary discriminations by the so-called Constitutional Protection Agency should in the future suffice to intervene in the autonomy of freely and democratically elected MPs." He added: "It is clear that this project once again targets the AfD exclusively, as some of our party members have previously been denounced by the media." Equally clear is that the AfD will not be pleased with such an attack, said Maier.
- Ilse Aigner, the President of the Bavarian State Parliament, criticized the employment of far-right organizers by the AfD faction in the Federal Parliament.
- The CSU faction in the Bavarian State Parliament is exploring legal options to address the issue of parliamentary staff engaged in extremist activities.
- Tristan Barczak, a professor from California State University, suggested embedding an Extremism Clause in Bavaria's legislative laws to address this issue.
- According to Barczak, a potential Extremism Clause could allow for the denial of wages to staff engaging in banned organizations or promoting activities against the liberal democratic basic order.
- The AfD faction has already protested against the proposed Extremism Clause, arguing that it could be used as a tool for arbitrary discrimination against democratically elected MPs.
