Nobody knows the special "Hessian conditions" better than MP Jörg-Uwe Hahn (FDP).

35 years ago, as a backbencher, he experienced how Joschka Fischer, the then leader of the Greens, and some Social Democrats used “bad methods” against the bourgeois government.

"We found that disgusting," Hahn recalls.

"But four years later, when red-green ruled again, we did the same." The Hessian state parliament's reputation of being "the toughest parliament in the republic" endured for many years.

When Hahn's party friend Ruth-Wagner brought a briefcase to her place in the plenary hall at the time of the black money affair in the CDU, Tarek Al-Wazir, the leader of the Green Party, asked her to open it to see if there was any money in it .

In the meantime, the prevailing opinion in Wiesbaden is that things are no rougher there than in other state capitals.

The entry of the AfD into the state parliament did not change that much.

The parliamentary group is only too happy to take part in conflicts involving border crossings.

And some of their deputies know very well how to irritate their political opponents.

But there is also interest in a sharp exchange of blows on the other side.

Above all, the Greens and the Left believe that they can score points with their clientele by attacking the Right.

Robert Lambrou, the head of the AfD parliamentary group, discussed the connection in a plenary debate in September 2019 with astonishing openness.

The AfD parliamentary group and the other parliamentary groups operated a "mutual instrumentalization," he said, turning to the competition.

"But you want

The conflicts are soberly calculated.

It would be good for parliamentarianism if MPs went about their business with more passion.

Then the debate would give an undisguised insight into the character and intellect of the individual politicians.

Instead, shortly after the start of the speeches in the plenum, the press offices of the parliamentary groups send out long-prepared quotes that they would like to see published.

Almost all speakers orientate themselves on the templates composed of text modules.

The culture of debate in parliament is dwindling more and more into an uninspired exchange of worn-out word templates.