In the Rhineland-Palatinate state parliament, new regulations have been introduced to bar those who oppose democracy.
The house rules for employee access rights within parliamentary groups have undergone a change. Starting now, they will only be granted access to the building where their employer is stationed. However, before access is expanded further, a trustworthiness assessment will be conducted. If there is reasonable doubt concerning trustworthiness, access cannot be widened, stated Hendrik Hering (SPD), the Landtag President.
According to Hering, this adjustment to the house rules is to protect the Landtag from adversaries of democracy. The scientific service of the Landtag is in the process of evaluating whether state funding for parliamentary group employees can be decreased or even terminated if they behave in a way that undermines the constitutional order. "It's unacceptable for enemies of the constitution to be funded by the state," he said.
The reliability check involves comparing the data of parliamentary group employees with those of the state criminal office and the Rhineland-Palatinate Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Anyone who jeopardizes the Landtag's operations by making statements or taking actions that harm its reputation is deemed unreliable, as per the Landtag's standards.
This category includes individuals who belong to parties or associations intent on abolishing the liberal-democratic order, or those who endorse totalitarian or disrespectful ideologies. The determining factor in deciding whether there are any objections to reliability is an individual evaluation of all the available information. The anticipated completion of the reliability check is scheduled by the end of the parliamentary summer break in August.
In the first quarter of this year, the tightening of access regulations was announced following revelations about right-wing extremist employees within the AfD.
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- In response to the new regulations, Hendrik Hering, the SPD leader in Rhineland-Palatinate's state parliament, explained that these rules aim to shield the Landtag from "Enemies of democracy."
- As part of these updated house rules, employees from parliamentary groups will only be granted access to their employer's workplace within the parliamentary building, after undergoing a thorough trustworthiness assessment.
- This assessment will involve comparing the data of parliamentary group employees with those from the Rhineland-Palatinate Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the state criminal office.
- According to Hering, any parliamentary group employee who jeopardizes the Landtag's operations by making harmful statements or actions could be considered unreliable and potentially lose their state funding, under the new house rules.
