Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - An application by the AfD parliamentary group to set up a committee of inquiry into the corona measures in North Rhine-Westphalia did not get the necessary number of votes in the state parliament. In the vote on Thursday, only the AfD voted for its own proposal. SPD, Greens, CDU and FDP voted against. According to the state parliament administration, in order to be able to set up a committee of inquiry, the votes of one fifth of the members of the state parliament are required, i.e. 39. The AfD parliamentary group consists of 12 MPs.
In the opinion of AfD parliamentary group leader Martin Vincentz, the political reaction to the corona pandemic had such a far-reaching impact on the living conditions and freedom rights of the individual that this alone required a review. Many mistakes are now obvious. According to him, the proposed U-committee should not be used to point fingers at anyone, but to understand how mistakes are made and to be better prepared in the future.
The CDU accused the AfD of populism. The aim of the protective measures was to prevent the healthcare system from being overloaded. "And that worked," said Jörg Blöming. There was no alternative to going into lockdown phases and ordering masks to be worn. The SPD assessed the application as a transparent attempt to instrumentalize the topic of Corona. Mistakes happened during the pandemic. "The processing is not finished for us either," said Serdar Yüksel. The specialist committees and the Corona parliamentary support committee are suitable for this. The Greens made a similar statement.
The FDP MP Yvonne Gebauer said that the AfD, of all people, was calling for an investigative committee was not without a certain irony. "Because anyone who has downplayed the danger of the virus for years makes themselves unbelievable in the role of parliamentary chief investigator and they don't deserve it," explained the former school minister. The judiciary is responsible for examining the proportionality of measures. The AfD is about propaganda and polemics.
