Details of the German parliament session on the Brotherhood
The German Parliament held a plenary session; to discuss political Islam and the Brotherhood, only a month after it held a hearing on the financing of these organizations.
The session that took place yesterday evening, focused on the establishment of a group of experts for political Islam in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, and a center for the documentation of political Islam, with the purpose of studying and examining the phenomenon and monitoring the activities of organizations in its orbit.
The importance of this plenary session, which witnessed the attendance of various parliamentary blocs, is that it comes a month after a hearing by the Internal Affairs Committee of the Parliament on the financing of political Islam, and in the heart of a strong path against this trend in the Parliament.
The course to confront political Islam and the Brotherhood under the dome of the German Parliament included the submission of 5 draft resolutions and 10 briefing requests, the holding of 2 meetings, and the submission of 5 government memorandums.
This momentum prompted Social Democrats MP Helge Lindh to say at the session that the Social Democrats “opposition” (many of these projects and briefing requests) seeking to place the issue of political Islam at the top of the parliamentary agenda.
“There are already chairs in German universities that specialize in the study of the phenomenon of political Islam,” Lindh said at the session.
Christian Democratic Union of Germany MP Volker Urlich said during the session, “The work of the Political Islam Experts Group over the past year has been good, and this group must continue its work in order to gain a greater understanding of political Islam.”
“There is no reason to stop this team from working, one year after its inauguration,” he said, referring to the decision of the Social Democrats-led government not to renew the Ministry of Interior’s team of experts.
“The problem of political Islam is not over in Germany, there is no reason to stop the work of the group of experts,” he said. “Political Islam wants to undermine the free democratic system through an extremist ideology that penetrates society, and we should not forget that.”
“The terrorist attack that targeted Berlin in December 2016 was the last step in the path of extremism, but there are roots for this extremism and terrorism in mosques in Berlin and Dortmund,” he said.
The German MP also said “who finances these mosques.. We want to know this,” he said, stressing that “political Islam and democracy do not meet.” He added that “the team of experts must continue, along with the establishment of a documentation center for political Islam.”
Christian Union MP Christoph de Vries said, “We have to fight anti-Muslim hostility, and there is a team of experts who specialize in studying this phenomenon, but political Islam is also a problem and must be fought.”
“Islamism is a threat to liberal democracy, and its organizations are exploiting the potential of a free society to achieve their goals,” he said. “The government does not take this threat seriously.”
“We have to confront this threat,” he said.
This plenary session was concerned with discussing the government’s decision not to renew the Political Islam Experts Group after the expiration of its mandate, which aroused considerable criticism in Germany.
However, local newspapers quoted government sources as saying that the government will establish its own advisory institutions on political Islam, especially given that the Political Islam Expert Group was one of the policies of the former Christian Union government.
The parliamentary session also included discussion of a draft resolution submitted by the “populist” Alternative for Germany party, the Christian Union, demanding the immediate reinstatement of the Political Islam Experts Group.
The Christian Union project also called for the establishment of an Austria-style Political Islam Documentation Center that would examine the activities of political Islam organizations and the Brotherhood.
