German federal states abolished the principle of unanimity in the Ministry of Internal Affairs due to fears of blocking the AfD

The Conference of the Ministers of the Interior of the German federal states abandoned the principle of unanimity when making decisions.

Now at least 13 out of 16 votes will be enough to make a decision.

The question of maintaining the principle of unanimity was discussed because of the possible emergence of an Interior Minister from the Alternative for Germany party, who could block important decisions.

BERLIN, September 30 - RIA Novosti. The heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the German federal states abandoned the principle of unanimity when making decisions at a joint conference amid fears that in the future the Minister of Internal Affairs from the opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD) will be able to block any decisions, the DPA agency reports, citing circles from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

“The conference of the interior ministers of the German federal states abandoned the principle of unanimity... In the future, at least 13 votes out of 16 will be sufficient to make a decision. The question of whether the principle of unanimity should be maintained, taking into account the possible appearance of an interior minister from the AfD, has already been discussed for some time within the framework of the conference,” the message says.

The agency clarifies that the Minister of the Interior of Lower Saxony, Daniela Behrens, stated at the autumn conference of 2025 that if the Minister of the Interior from the AfD appears, the conference should introduce a mechanism that will not allow a representative of the opposition party to block important decisions.

According to the DPA, the principle of unanimity was not formally enshrined by the conference. It, as the agency emphasizes, was based on many years of practice.

Bloomberg reported on September 28 that a similar change would affect the conference of prime ministers of the German states. The federal states intend to change voting rules and introduce the principle of qualified majority decision-making in order to deprive the AfD of the ability to single-handedly block the work of the conference.