German parliamentary committee ousts AfD chairman over anti-Semitism

A politician from the nationalist Alternative for Germany party (AfD) on Wednesday became the first MP to be removed from office as chairman of a parliamentary committee in postwar German history.

Stephan Brandner was deposed as chairman of the Bundestag legal affairs committee in a special vote of members. Every other party in the parliament had demanded he step down following a series of controversial public statements.

The 53-year-old MP was widely condemned over comments he made on Twitter following last month’s failed far-Right attack on a crowded synagogue in Halle.

Mr Brandner accused fellow politicians of “draping themselves” in front of synagogues while a “German who liked to listen to folk music” and a “biological German” were killed.

After failing to gain access to a synagogue packed with worshippers marking Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, the far-Right gunman, Stephan Balliet, shot dead two bystanders instead.

Mr Brandner also posted disparaging tweets about a television interview following the attack in which Michel Friedman, a well-known German Jewish journalist and lawyer, alleged that anti-Semitism had found a “political home” in the AfD. 

“Every moment of this German Michel is driving us new followers in droves — keep it up!” Mr Brandner wrote.

Following his comments, MPs from rival parties called for Mr Brandner’s resignation as chairman of the parliamentary legal committee, but he refused to stand down, so they took the unprecedented step of holding a vote to unseat him.

The ballot was secret, but German media reported that 37 committee members voted to remove Mr Brandner while only six voted for him to remain in office.

“The dismissal of Brandner is a clear signal against incitement and hatred – we are finally giving the office back its dignity,” said Jan-Marco Luczak of Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU).

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“For the first time in 70 years, a Bundestag committee chairman has been voted out. But the embarrassing behaviour of the AfD is sure to continue,” said Florian Post of Mrs Merkel’s coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD).

Mr Brandner reacted angrily, describing his removal as “another low point for parliamentarism in Germany, and another low point for democracy in Germany”.

Although removed as chairman of the lgeal committee, Mr Brandner remains an MP.