The Matter Archives - Page 2 of 2

Words for Leaving the Matter

unsachlich werden — to stop being factual.

persönlich werden — to get personal.

Das ist nicht persönlich gemeint. — That is not meant personally.

das Totschlagargument — literally a manslaughter argument. Duden defines it as a pseudo-argument made on purpose, hard to contest because it is empty or general, and meant to end the discussion of the substance.

die Schlammschlacht — a mud battle. Duden: a dispute, especially in politics, conducted without objectivity and with disparaging remarks.

ein Schlag unter die Gürtellinie — a blow below the belt. Duden: unfair, impermissible behavior.

Der Ton macht die Musik. — The tone makes the music. Germans use the proverb when bluntness has become rude.

One Team Across the Aisle

FC Bundestag is the football club of the members of the Bundestag. It was founded in the 1960s, and members of all political camps play in it. In 2018 the CDU member Johannes Steiniger wrote that members of otherwise competing parties form one team across party lines. In March 2024, the club’s members’ meeting declared membership of the AfD incompatible with membership of the club. In March 2025, the Berlin regional court declared that resolution void on formal grounds. The club’s statutes allow any member of the Bundestag to join, and a resolution of the members’ meeting is not enough to change that.

Fifty-Eight Calls to Order

The president of the Bundestag can call a member to order by name for a breach of the order or the dignity of the house. A personal insult is the classic case. Herbert Wehner, the long-time leader of the SPD group, holds the record. He received 58 calls to order in almost 34 years in parliament. He once called the CDU member Jürgen Todenhöfer Hodentöter, a crude pun on the name. In the 2021–2025 term, the Bundestag issued more than 100 calls to order. By mid-September 2025, six months into its term, the new Bundestag had issued 13, and 12 of them went to members of the AfD.

Leaving the Room

A member of a town council in North Rhine-Westphalia may have a personal stake in a decision. It may bring a direct advantage or disadvantage to the member, to a relative or to a person the member represents. In that case the member darf weder beratend noch entscheidend mitwirken, may take part neither in the discussion nor in the decision. The member must declare this without being asked and den Sitzungsraum verlassen, leave the meeting room. In a public session, the member may sit with the public.

No Right to Strike Back

In November 2015, the Federal Ministry of Education put out a press release under the title Rote Karte für die AfD, red card for the AfD. It said: Die Rote Karte sollte der AfD und nicht der Bundeskanzlerin gezeigt werden. The red card should be shown to the AfD and not to the chancellor. The AfD went to the Federal Constitutional Court. On 27 February 2018, the court ruled that the minister, Johanna Wanka, had violated the party’s right to equal opportunity. The government may engage with criticism of its work sachlich, on the matter. Ein „Recht auf Gegenschlag” dergestalt, dass staatliche Organe auf unsachliche oder diffamierende Angriffe in gleicher Weise reagieren dürfen, besteht nicht. There is no right to strike back, in the sense that state bodies may answer unobjective or defamatory attacks in the same way.