Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Bundestag tightened rules
MPs are only allowed to enter the plenary with 2G plus
The current infection situation has also left its mark on the Bundestag. The director of the German parliament is reacting to the increasing number of cases and tightening the rules. For individual MPs, this could mean that they will be denied access to the plenary.
In view of the increasing number of corona infections, the security measures are also being tightened in the German Bundestag. In future, only members of parliament and employees who have been vaccinated twice or have recovered and have been vaccinated once will have access to the plenary chamber during meetings. You must also have a current negative corona test. This emerges from a letter from the director of the German Bundestag, Lorenz Müller, to all 736 MPs.
The only exemptions from the obligation to submit a test result are those who have been boosted or recovered and have been vaccinated twice. Those who have neither been vaccinated nor recovered can only follow the meetings from the stands from this meeting week if they can show a negative test result. Anyone who does not do this will no longer be admitted. In addition, FFP2 masks must be worn in all buildings of the Bundestag with immediate effect. The less secure surgical masks may no longer be used.
At the constituent session of the Bundestag at the end of October, the 3G rule still applied in the plenary hall. MPs who have not been vaccinated, recovered or tested should take a seat in a reserved grandstand and keep their distance from one another. 22 of the AfD parliamentary group, which at that time still had 82 members, made use of this exemption because they could not or did not want to show evidence of this.
The parliamentarians were nevertheless able to take part in the votes on the new parliamentary presidium. There were delays, however, as voting in the stands had to be made in writing instead of using the normal electronic system. The AfD politician Karsten Hilse wore a sticker with the words “not vaccinated” during the meeting.