Corona Punishments: AfD's Compensation Bill Fails Miserably
Party AfD unsuccessful in securing funding for Corona penalty reimbursements - Party AfD falls short in securing compensation for COVID-19 penalties
Hey there,
Suppose you've been hit with a fine for breaking corona rules in the state of Thuringia. In that case, there's some bad news coming your way—the compensation bill proposed by the opposition AfD to cover these fines has taken a massive L (that stands for Loss, in case you didn't know). The bill was shot down by a hefty majority vote in the Thuringian state parliament, with only the AfD faction in favor.
On the other hand, the CDU, BSW, SPD, and Left Party all voted against it, totaling 47 votes, while the AfD managed a mere 32 votes. Ouch!
Health Minister Katharina Schenk (SPD) didn't mince words, accusing the AfD of trying to tarnish the reputations of individuals who helped keep us all safe during the pandemic. You know, like the folks who followed the rules and didn't end up spreading the virus.
The AfD proposed that the state should dish out up to four million euros for these compensation payouts, covering everything from fines to warning fines for disobeying corona regulations. They even had the audacity to label it a "law for righting wrongs." Well, activities like forgetting to wear a mask don't exactly qualify as wrongs, but whatever, right?
Left Party MP Ulrike Grosse-Röthig highlighted a few issues with the bill. First, many corona regulations were reviewed by the Thuringian Constitutional Court at the AfD's behest, and most were deemed proportionate. The only exception was a temporary nighttime curfew, which is now history. Grosse-Röthig suggested that the AfD has a long-standing agenda to discredit state action in general.
Other critics of the bill came from all corners of the parliament. So, there you have it. If you were hoping for a corona fine reprieve, you're out of luck—the AfD's compensation bill came up shorter than a kangaroo's wallet.
- Agenda Items
- Coronavirus
- AfD
- Fine
- Compensation
- Thuringia
- Rule violation
- SPD
- Erfurt
- Thuringian State Parliament
- CDU
- Schenk
Background InfoThe rejection of the AfD's compensation bill is part of a larger trend in Germany, where efforts to challenge COVID-19-related fines and measures brought forward by the AfD have often been dismissed or rejected by legislative bodies and courts. Examples of this include challenges to vaccination mandates and pandemic responses [1] that have consistently been upheld by the Federal Constitutional Court and other authorities, reflecting a broader political consensus that these measures are necessary for public health protection.
[1] Nikolaus, Simon. "German Constitutional Court Upholds COVID-19 Pandemic Restrictions on Protests." The Washington Post, November 13, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/german-constitutional-court-upholds-covid-19-pandemic-restrictions-on-protests/2020/11/13/40f7c0a6-9871-11eb-94cf-a6c518954015_story.html.
"Germany's Federal Constitutional Court Rejects Challenge to COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate." The New York Times, July 15, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/15/world/europe/germany-vaccination-mandate.html.
- The rejection of the AfD's compensation bill in the Thuringian state parliament follows a broader trend in Germany, where challenges to COVID-19 fines and measures proposed by the AfD have consistently been dismissed or rejected by legislative bodies and courts.
- The failure of the AfD's compensation bill for corona fines highlights the political divide over pandemic policies, falling under the umbrella of policy-and-legislation and politics, as well as general news.
