19 members of the state parliament submitted a corresponding application to the Thuringian state parliament on Wednesday, reports “Welt” (Thursday edition), citing the BSW and CDU state parliament factions. These include all 15 MPs from the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance (BSW) around parliamentary group and state leader Katja Wolf as well as four MPs from the CDU, including CDU state leader and parliamentary group leader Mario Voigt. The CDU and BSW are currently exploring a possible government coalition with the SPD in Thuringia. In committees of inquiry, parliamentarians can clarify the government’s actions.
A fifth of the 88 MPs in Thuringia must support the appointment, which corresponds to 18 MPs. The CDU and BSW are currently negotiating with the SPD about a government coalition. The BSW recently declared the Corona investigation to be a core topic of its parliamentary work. The BSW is also applying for such an investigative committee in Saxony and in the Bundestag. “Coming to terms with the serious political mistakes made during the Corona period is a central concern of the BSW,” said BSW party leader Sahra Wagenknecht to “Welt”. “Many people who suffered from lockdowns, school closings and other arbitrary measures back then, or who were excluded and defamed as unvaccinated people, expect that something will finally happen here.” In the Bundestag, a review of the pandemic measures is being “blocked by the traffic light parties and the CDU,” criticized Wagenknecht. This is also why the BSW’s request for the establishment of those committees in Saxony and Thuringia is important. “It is gratifying that the necessary quorum was achieved in Thuringia, thanks to some supporters from the ranks of the CDU, and the investigative committee is now coming.” It’s about clarifying the actions of the state government, said the parliamentary manager of the CDU in the state parliament, Andreas Bühl. “This is about a constructive, forward-looking approach in order to be able to learn lessons for future pandemics and other crises. The aim is to identify mistakes and learn from them for the future.” The investigative committee is intended to clarify the state government’s actions and possible mistakes in combating the pandemic, according to the Thuringian application text. This will be used to develop recommendations for possible new outbreaks of infectious diseases. In the election program, the BSW called for Charité virologist Christian Drosten and Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) to be summoned. The Thuringian BSW emphasized that they did not want to work with the AfD. “The constitutive session of the state parliament showed that the AfD parliamentary group does not rely on collegial cooperation,” said Stefan Wogawa, BSW member of the state parliament and responsible for the application. “A lot of porcelain has been shattered. The AfD first has to prove that it wants to work together constructively.”
