As announced, the AfD parliamentary group in the Saxon state parliament has requested a committee of inquiry into the coronavirus policy. It is to critically examine the work of the Saxon government in connection with the coronavirus in the period from 2019 to 2024. "We want to use the entire legislative period until 2029 to investigate the government's serious violations of fundamental rights," said AfD parliamentary group leader Jörg Urban in advance. CDU Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer will have to explain to the committee why outdoor gatherings of only ten people were permitted in Saxony. "We had the impression from the outset that citizens' protests were being suppressed here," emphasized Urban.
In the opinion of the AfD, the publication of the Robert Koch Institute's protocols raises the question of whether the Conference of Minister Presidents deliberately ignored the recommendations of scientists. With the compulsory vaccination and numerous lockdowns, the rule of law has been "trampled underfoot". "Instead, the government established a state of measures that undermined the free and democratic basic order. This dark episode in our recent German history must be dealt with thoroughly," it said. This also includes holding those responsible to account.
Due to the strength of its parliamentary group, the AfD can set up a parliamentary committee of inquiry on its own. It must be requested by at least one fifth of the 120 MPs. The AfD is represented in parliament by 40 men and women. As a rule, the state parliament must decide on the committee of inquiry within two weeks, in exceptional cases within three weeks. This case is likely to apply because Saxony is on vacation. At the beginning of the pandemic in Saxony in March 2020, the AfD called for a consistent crackdown and insisted on a disaster alert. It later became the biggest critic of the coronavirus measures in the state.
The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) had also announced a sub-committee on coronavirus and wants to make good on an election promise. According to BSW parliamentary group leader Sabine Zimmermann, however, it should not be a tribunal, but a contribution to reconciliation. The CDU, SPD, Greens, Left Party and also the representative of the Free Voters, Matthias Berger, on the other hand, see a commission of inquiry as the appropriate means of coming to terms with the pandemic and drawing lessons for the future.
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