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State financial equalization and extremism clause | State financial equalization debate: direction against the left
The fact that politicians are calling for sanctions against “extremist” governments reveals ignorance of the constitution and democratic principles.
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Are suggestions from this Bismarck actor to be taken seriously? For some, apparently. Photo: imago/Heiko Becker Markus Söder clearly puts more care and seriousness into his carnival costumes than into political proposals. This is shown once again in his call for punishment of population groups that, in his opinion, have elected an “extremist” state government. Because a removal of funds from the state financial equalization does not affect ministers and senators, but all residents of a federal state, including those who voted “correctly”.
Such a thing would also be unconstitutional and authoritarian in the version that has now been “improved” because it is not only directed against the Left in Berlin, but also against the AfD. It's not surprising that a will-o'-the-wisp like Söder would suggest something like that. However, it will be worrying if this is not unanimously rejected by our colleagues. Instead, the CDU and Green state fathers want to examine it favorably. And an SPD head of government simply says that something like this wouldn't be her "first suggestion."
They all know that Söder's initiative was originally only directed against the Left. And also that “extremism” has always been a flexible term, i.e. one that allows for arbitrariness. He was and is instrumentalized almost exclusively in his dealings with people and clubs on the left of the center.
It is only of limited consolation that Söder's initiative would not stand up to scrutiny by the Federal Constitutional Court. Because its purpose is above all to keep the defamation campaign against the currently strongest political force in Berlin simmering. And he fulfills this – with the help of the media.
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