Die Zeit51 minutes agoPolitics1 min readGermany

State parliament plans changes to senior presidency and committee chairmanship

In the future, the longest-serving member of parliament is to chair the session, no longer the oldest. In addition, committee chairs are to be elected.

Quick Look

The CDU, SPD, Greens and FDP factions are planning to change the state constitution in order to determine the senior president in the future based on seniority instead of age.
In addition, committee chairmen should be elected in the future in order to prevent AfD chairs.

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Why It Matters

The regulation is intended to prevent the constituent session of a state parliament from being disrupted by political staging. Previously, the oldest member chaired the session.

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In the future, the Father of the House (Alterspräsident) of the state parliament is no longer to be the oldest member of parliament, but the longest-serving one. The state constitution is to be amended for this purpose, as the parliamentary groups of the CDU, SPD, Greens, and FDP announced jointly. Officially, this is about "parliamentary experience"; de facto, it means there will be no AfD Father of the House for a long time to come.

Background: When a new state parliament convenes, the session is initially chaired by the Father of the House until the new President of the State Parliament is elected. When the new state parliament started in Thuringia in 2024, the then 73-year-old AfD politician Jürgen Treutler opened the session as the oldest MP. It descended into chaos.

Without mentioning the AfD by name, the CDU, SPD, Greens, and FDP write in their press release that they want to reform the presidency by age "so that the constituent session of a new state parliament runs in an orderly manner and does not become the stage for political staging."

Young AfD will not provide a Father of the House for a long time

As a young party, the AfD will not have an MP who has served in the state parliament longer than representatives of the CDU or SPD for many years. As a result, the Father of the House will automatically be provided by another parliamentary group.

The CDU, SPD, Greens, and FDP also want to change the rules of procedure of the state parliament. In the future, committee chairs are to be elected. Previously, the respective parliamentary groups—including the AfD—could determine the committee chairs allocated to them themselves. Currently, for example, the AfD MP Hartmut Beucker chairs the state parliament's science committee.

In the Bundestag—where committee chairs are already elected—there is not a single AfD chair because the candidates never received a majority. This could also be the case in the state parliament starting next year.

Open Questions

When will the constitutional amendment be voted on in the state parliament?
How is the AfD parliamentary group reacting to the planned changes?