AfD demands “migration balance sheet” and reversal of coal exit in Bundestag
The AfD set the agenda in the Bundestag on Thursday with several motions: the cost of immigration on the Danish model, gas reserves, coal and long-term care. Most motions were referred to committees.
Archive image · Photo: Olaf Kosinsky / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de (cropped and resized)
On Thursday, the AfD parliamentary group called in the Bundestag for a regular “migration balance sheet for Germany”. Its motion calls for a law requiring a scientific assessment of immigration's short-, medium- and long-term effects on health, long-term care, pension and unemployment insurance. The results are to be presented to the Bundestag annually, and the AfD also wants a study modelled on Denmark. The group justifies its demand by pointing to what it sees as an above-average share of foreign nationals receiving basic income support. After an hour-long debate the motion was referred to committees, with the Labour and Social Affairs Committee in the lead.
In two further motions, the AfD demands a halt to the planned closure of the Breitbrunn and Wolfersberg gas storage sites and the conversion of market-run storage into state-controlled security reserves. It also wants the coal phase-out reversed by the end of 2028 and lignite mining continued. The party further calls for abolishing the EU Emissions Trading System and the national CO2 price. These motions were also referred to the economic affairs committee.
In the evening, an AfD motion on long-term care was also put to a vote; among other things, it calls for a return to separate training for hospital, paediatric and elderly care and for freezing contribution rates to long-term care insurance. The health committee had issued a recommendation on it. AfD motions generally fail to win a majority in the Bundestag, as the other parliamentary groups refuse to cooperate with the party.