By Sabbine Beppler-Spahl writing for spiked
Germany’s strict Covid-vaccination rules now apply in the Bundestag, the German parliament. Therefore, MPs who have either not been fully vaccinated, or have not recovered from Covid in the past six months, are no longer allowed to enter the plenary hall or participate in any committee meetings.
This is no longer about being able to enter theatres or concert halls, now elected MPs are barred from taking part in the democratic process and carrying out the jobs they were elected to do.
There is a clear political motivation behind this move. Everyone knows that the imposition of these rules in the Bundestag targets the right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AfD) in particular. The AfD has the largest number of unvaccinated MPs and has campaigned against vaccine mandates. But others are affected, too, such as Sahra Wagenknecht, former chair of the Left Party (Die Linke).