Overview

• The CDU/CSU Unionsfraktion has announced it will not support AfD candidates for deputy chair positions in Bundestag committees.
• This decision follows the AfD's failure to secure any of the six committee chairmanships it was entitled to propose earlier this month.
• The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) classified the AfD as definitively extremist in early May, but the designation is temporarily suspended pending a court ruling in Köln.
• Steffen Bilger, a CDU parliamentary leader, emphasized that the AfD's extremist designation makes it unacceptable to entrust the party with committee leadership roles.
• Despite the Unionsfraktion's position, individual MPs retain the freedom to vote independently in secret ballots for deputy chair elections.