\nKl\u00f6ckner is not one to adhere to convention, however.\n<\/p>\n
\nCritics see the former agriculture minister and close ally of Chancellor Friedrich Merz as a part of a Christian Democratic wing that is looking to nudge Germany\u2019s institutions to the right.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe latest flashpoint came on Monday when Kl\u00f6ckner attended a CDU summer party in her home state of Rhineland-Palatinate, hosted at the premises of a med-tech company whose billionaire owner bankrolls Nius, a rising right-wing news platform often compared to Fox News.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe outlet is known for railing against Germany’s Greens and the \u2018woke left\u2019 and is regularly accused by its targets of bias and flouting journalistic standards. In recent weeks, Nius’s aggressive coverage about a Social Democratic judicial pick for Germany’s constitutional court\u00a0 helped galvanise a right-wing campaign<\/a> that ultimately derailed the judge’s nomination.\n<\/p>\n \nKl\u00f6ckner\u2019s presence at the celebration in her home region prompted a rebuke from her party’s coalition partner,\u00a0 the Social Democrats (SPD).\u00a0 SPD parliamentary leader Matthias Miersch said Kl\u00f6ckner owed the public an explanation, given the \u201cspecial responsibility of her office.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \nUnfazed, the president has only doubled down. In a speech at the event, she portrayed her attendance as legitimate within the bounds of the diversity of opinions. She described Nius as the right-wing equivalent of taz,\u00a0a left-wing German daily\u00a0 rooted in the antiestablishment movements of the 1970s that is today read by many urban elites.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n From wine to headline \nThe daughter of a winemaker, Kl\u00f6ckner is still sometimes belittled for serving as German Wine Queen in the 1990s, a marketing ambassador for the wine industry.\n<\/p>\n \nShe has consistently drawn tabloid attention, from her dramatic 17-kilo weight loss to a new relationship with a prominent television host. The debate over the colourful \u20ac400 Marc Cain dress she wore at the CDU summer party underscored how much her lifestyle competes with her politics for attention.\n<\/p>\n \nAnd Kl\u00f6ckner plays along. Her social media channels alternate between influencer-style videos<\/a> of her poodle crossbreed and Instagram stories\u00a0that praise Merz for \u201cdestroying\u201d a news anchor in an interview.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \nDespite owing her rise to centrist Angela Merkel, under whom she served as agriculture minister, Kl\u00f6ckner has consistently cultivated a right-leaning political profile. She pushed for harsher migration policies and demanded a burka ban after Merkel opened Germany to millions of refugees from the Muslim countries.\n<\/p>\n \nThe fading public attention after the CDU fell into opposition in 2021 marked a low point for Kl\u00f6ckner. At last year’s CDU party conference, she was seen eagerly handing out popcorn to journalists working at the press desks in an obvious bid for attention.\n<\/p>\n \nBut her open support for the repeated leadership bids of fellow conservative Friedrich Merz ultimately paid off. He rewarded her with the Bundestag presidency after he led the CDU to victory in national elections earlier this year.\n<\/p>\n Of flags and fights \nOne of her first moves was to ban the rainbow flag from flying on parliament\u2019s premises during Berlin\u2019s annual Pride parade, while also blocking the Bundestag\u2019s queer staff network from joining the march in an official capacity.\n<\/p>\n \nKl\u00f6ckner justified the move with reference to the parliament’s neutrality, but political rivals accused her of abusing the concept as cover for right-wing cultural battles.\n<\/p>\n \nWhile she has been strict with far-right Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland (AfD) lawmakers, she has particularly clashed with the far-left party Die Linke, once ejecting an MP<\/a> for wearing a T-shirt reading ‘Palestine.’\n<\/p>\n \nAfter she endorsed Nius at Monday’s CDU event, The Left called for Kl\u00f6ckner’s resignation, while others questioned her motives.\n<\/p>\n \n\u201cI wonder whether the Bundestag president is as unfamiliar with the German media landscape as her statement suggests, or whether she is pursuing a political agenda by pushing the acclaimed taz into the far-left corner,\u201d the chair of the German Journalists Association, Mika Beuster, told<\/a> a German public broadcaster.\n<\/p>\n The CDU is standing by Kl\u00f6ckner, however, with senior officials dismissing the controversy as a transparent attempt by journalists to generate a bit of news during the dog days of summer.<\/p>\n Perhaps. Yet for a post designed to let others take centre stage, the Bundestag’s president has rarely made generating headlines so easy.<\/p>\n (mm)
\nKl\u00f6ckner has a history of standing out in Germany’s sober politics business with her pugnacious style and a notable penchant for glitz and exotic outfits.<\/p>\n
\nSince then, Kl\u00f6ckner has returned to courting controversy.<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-1257441704-scaled-e1752124736499-800x600.jpg\")
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