AfD politician Wiesner recalled as committee chairman

The Saxon state parliament has removed AfD MP Alexander Wiesner from the chairmanship of the Committee on Constitution, Law and Europe. He is accused of being close to right-wing extremists. The motion to do so was tabled by the CDU and SPD parliamentary groups. The Left and the Greens also consider the 35-year-old unacceptable. The AfD considers the dismissal inadmissible.

Sixty-six MPs voted in favor of the dismissal, 42 against and nine abstained. The BSW voted inconsistently. The AfD has 40 MPs in parliament. According to the rules of procedure, a majority of the members of parliament was required, i.e. at least 61 votes. The AfD retains the chairmanship of the parliamentary committee, but must now nominate another candidate.

Wiesner had employed right-wing extremists as staff

Wiesner is accused of having employed two suspected members of the militant right-wing extremist group "Saxon Separatists" as a member of parliament. He dismissed them after the allegations came to light. Wiesner himself was until recently head of the Junge Alternative in Saxony, which has been classified as proven right-wing extremist by both the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

AfD considers dismissal inadmissible

The AfD had previously rejected the demand for a different personnel proposal as "impertinence". Wiesner is an "honorable parliamentarian" and has in no way damaged the reputation of the committee so far, MP Joachim Keiler now argued. "I can assure you that our parliamentary group will make use of its right of dismissal if Mr. Wiesner does not do justice to his office," he offered the other parliamentary groups.

The parliamentary secretary of the BSW, Lutz Richter, made it clear during the debate that his parliamentary group is divided on the Wiesner case. Some MPs believed that the dismissal would once again only focus attention on the AfD. After all, the committee chairmanship belongs to AfD. Richter himself abstained.