The German Bundestag is bursting at the seams. A downsizing is urgently needed. But a reform won’t happen that quickly, says FDP parliamentary group leader Kuhle.

The FDP has dampened expectations that the electoral law commission could give the go-ahead for a draft to downsize the Bundestag as early as next week.

Group Vice President Konstantin Kuhle wrote on Twitter about a corresponding report by “Bild am Sonntag”: “It would be nice if it went so quickly.” But to expect a reform in the coming days is “greatly exaggerated”. The commission for the reform of the electoral law will present its interim report by the end of August. Then the legislative process begins. “One thing is certain: the Bundestag must become smaller,” Kuhle made clear.

As early as mid-May, the representatives of the traffic light parties SPD, Greens and FDP had presented key points for a reform to reduce the Bundestag back to 598 seats. With 736 mandates, it is currently larger than ever. The proposal leaves the number of 299 constituencies untouched. In the past two legislative periods, a reform of the electoral law failed, mainly because the CSU and CDU strictly rejected reducing the number of constituencies.

On Thursday (5:00 p.m.) the electoral law commission will publicly advise on key points for an interim report. The parliamentary director of the SPD parliamentary group, Johannes Fechner, told the “Bild am Sonntag”: “I expect approval from the traffic light groups.” The Union warned that with a reform not all constituency winners could move into the Bundestag. The parliamentary manager of the Union faction, Thorsten Frei, described this in the newspaper as unconstitutional. CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt warned in the “Bild am Sonntag”: “If the traffic light groups decide to do such a maneuver, we will immediately file a constitutional complaint.”