Linken-Chefin Ines Schwerdtner delivered her first Bundestag speech on Thursday, but received a rebuke from Bundestag vice-president Andrea Lindholz (CSU) shortly after. The reason: Schwerdtner had referred to the AfD as “Fascists” in her speech and accused CDU faction leader Jens Spahn of telling “nonsense”.
Lindholz warned Schwerdtner in the plenary after her first speech, stating that they should consider how they want to interact with each other at the beginning of the legislative period. The CSU politician received applause, particularly from the AfD and somewhat restrainedly from the Union faction.
Following this, Linken immediately responded, with Heidi Reichinnek calling out the AfD in the plenary as “extremists”. Lindholz criticized this, emphasizing that there were also young people in the audience and that the Bundestag should set an example in terms of debate. Some SPD deputies also applauded.