The AfD's Bundestag controversial committee chair plans

Things did not turn out quite as well as the Alternative for Germany (AfD) had hoped. Beyond the key parliamentary budget committee, the party had its eye on other important chairmanships they ultimately did not receive. One of them was interior, in order to address issues of immigration and integration policy. The other was culture, in order to fight what the AfD calls the institutions of the "1968 liberal-leftist elite."

A united front of cultural figures, however, protested the plan. They warned against the AfD's "relativist view of Germany's culture of remembrance." In the end, the other parties in the Bundestag agreed to give the AfD the chairmanships of the budget, legal affairs and tourism committees. When there is an objection to a particular chairmanship nominee, this will be voted upon within the committee.

AfD parliamentary party leaders Alexander Gauland and Alice Weidel (pictured at top) said they were "pleased" with the result.

"As parliament's largest opposition party, we are very happy to have these important committees," Bernd Baumann, AfD chief whip, said of the decision. It was he who, along with other AfD leaders, negotiated the deal.

Baumann put special emphasis on the chairmanship of the legal affairs committee, noting that the recently passed and "unfortunate online hate speech law is also under the committee's purview." The AfD has criticized Germany's "network enforcement law" (NetzDG), calling it censorship.

The influence of a committee chair

The Bundestag's 23 committees are "the workshops of parliament, it is here that that which the Bundestag has decided to vote upon is modeled and polished." At least that is the way things are described in the Bundestag's rules of procedure.

Committee membership reflects overall party representation in the Bundestag. Each party has its own principle committee contact and rapporteur, the so-called Obmann, or foreman. Committee agendas are decided upon by these individuals.

More than anything, a committee chair has a coordinating function. In terms of affecting the content of a proposed bill, however, the chair's influence is limited. Analyzing chairmanship appointments in neighboring Germany, the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote that such posts are "primarily decorative."  

That may be true, but the post of committee chair also provides media visibility. The populist AfD, which is keenly interested in generating publicity, will no doubt be diligent in taking advantage of that fact.

One for the far-right nationalists

The AfD has nominated Stephan Brandner to chair the legal affairs committee. A lawyer, Brandner spent four years in Thuringia's state parliament and is said to be a close confidant of the party's controversial leader there, Björn Höcke. The appointment would give Höcke's far-right nationalist "wing" an important post in Berlin.  

Brandner is one of a number of AfD politicians who had always wanted to stay as far away from the German capital as possible. Speaking with DW in March 2017, he vowed he wanted nothing to do with the "swinger club" in Berlin, where each party could choose and swap partners at will.

Now, one year on, things look different. When discussing his nomination, Brandner said he would conduct himself professionally but that he would not become "a political eunuch."

Criticism of the budget chair nominee

Though unofficial, there is an unwritten rule of precedent that dictates the chairmanship of the budget committee be given to the largest opposition party in the Bundestag. Up to now, the 41-member committee has been chaired by the Left Party.

There were furious debates about whether existing practice should be abandoned following the AfD's success in last September's national elections. The AfD has staked its claim to the important post should grand coalition talks between the Social Democrats (SPD) and Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives prove successful, as they would become the largest opposition party.

In the end, the Bundestag's establishment parties opted to treat the AfD like any other group and not to ostracize it. When they single out the AfD, it tends to style itself as "a victim of the establishment parties."

Nevertheless, the outgoing budget committee chair, Gesine Lötzsch, has voiced criticism of her potential replacement, euro-skeptic nominee Peter Boehringer, who she said belongs to the "far-right fringe of the AfD." He has been quoted as lamenting the "ethnic inversion of the German people." He recently told the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung his words had been so emotional because they were stirred by the refugee crisis.

The importance of the tourism committee

According to the Bundestag, its tourism committee reflects the important role tourism plays in shaping "Germany's image in the world." Will the AfD be able to square the nationalism it has increasingly propagated with the openness that is the basis for making countries like Germany a favorite tourist destination.

Twenty-eight-year-old Sebastian Münzenmaier has been nominated to chair the committee. Just days ago, he made headlines by being the only one of six AfD parliamentarians not allowed to join the Bundestag's football team. He is currently under criminal investigation for alleged involvement in an attack carried out by right-wing hooligans. Münzenmaier denies the allegations.

Like his colleagues, Münzenmaier is no party centrist. Before joining the AfD early on, he was a member of the far-right "Freedom" (Die Freiheit) party. Founded in 2010, it was a precursor to the AfD — one with a decidedly anti-Islamic bent, even back then.

Upon being tapped for the chairmanship, Münzenmaier said he wanted to "move beyond partisan boundaries for the sake of the tourism industry and its employees."