Careful answers - Large inquiries in the state parliament have more than doubled
The state government is having to process an increasing number of so-called major requests from parliamentary factions, some of which result in extensive answers: For example, the reply to an SPD question catalog on budgets, according to the Landtag database, is 2,776 pages thick. The AfD faction submitted particularly many major requests.
According to the State Chancellery's response to an dpa inquiry, there were already 28 major requests in the first two years of the current legislative period. In the same period of the previous legislative period, there had been 13. The number of points per request has also increased significantly, according to the State Chancellery: In the previous legislative period, there were an average of 110 questions in a major request, while currently there are 439.
For example, the youngest major request from the AfD ("From 2G to Lockdown – A critical examination of the Corona strategies of the North Rhine-Westphalia state government") is 44 pages long with exactly 500 questions, as can be seen in the Landtag database. The faction wrote on Instagram under the heading "Government nervous: AfD asks 500 questions during the Corona time!": "The state government is legally obliged to answer our questions. And we will hold them to it. Now every stone is being turned in NRW!"
The AfD has submitted 13 major requests in the current legislative period, SPD and FDP each six. Major and so-called minor requests - which are significantly slimmer - have traditionally served the opposition as a means of obtaining answers from the state government on various matters. According to the Landtag statutes, the state government has four weeks to respond to a minor request and three months for a major request.
- The increase in major requests from the AfD in the North Rhine-Westphalia State Parliament has led to longer and more detailed responses from the state government, such as the 2,776-page reply to an SPD question catalog.
- Despite the growing number of complex requests, the AfD state faction in Düsseldorf continues to submit major requests, like their most recent one titled "From 2G to Lockdown" with 500 questions.
- The Coronavirus pandemic has not deterred the AfD from utilizing major requests as a means to scrutinize the state government's strategies, as shown by their extensive questioning of North Rhine-Westphalia's COVID-19 policies.
- The state government, under pressure from various parliamentary factions, including the AFD, must carefully manage its responses to major requests within the given timeframes set by the State Parliament, ensuring transparency and compliance with the law.
