AfD co-boss Meuthen
Photo: Nigel Treblin / Getty Images
The relief was noticeable to the AfD lawyer.
"Thank you," said Joachim Steinhöfel in the direction of the 7th Civil Senate of the Court of Appeal when the oral verdict was announced.
Later, the legal representative of the federal party, himself not an AfD member, spoke to the media of a "victory across the board".
From the attorney's point of view, the joy was understandable, as the higher court had rejected the appeal of the former AfD politician Andreas Kalbitz against a previous decision by the regional court.
Kalbitz failed in the second instance with his attempt to regain his AfD membership.
It was canceled in May by an AfD federal board decision and later confirmed by the AfD federal arbitration court.
He was accused of hiding membership of the neo-Nazi HDJ and the Republicans when he joined the AfD in 2013 (read more about the verdict here).
Liberation against right wing?
The driver against Kalbitz was co-party leader Jörg Meuthen.
His advance in the spring was intended as a liberation strike against the right "wing", in which Kalbitz and the Thuringian regional chief Björn Höcke had played a central role.
Meuthen had also attended his Kyffhäuser events as a guest speaker before tackling the right wing.
The völkisch-national network was officially dissolved by Höcke after it had been declared right-wing extremist by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in March.
Many of his supporters are still active in the AfD.
This feeds doubts that the network has lost its influence.
It is possible that Meuthen's blow against Kalbitz and the far right - at the federal party congress in Kalkar in November, he distinguished himself with a speech - will be of little use to the AfD.
more on the subject
Right wing politicians: The court rejects Kalbitz's application against expulsion from the AfD
Icon: Spiegel Plus Verfassungsschutz wants to watch AfD: Curtain up for right-wing puppet theater The SPIEGEL editorial by Ann-Katrin Müller
Possible AfD observation: Seehofer has the constitution protection report checked again
Icon: Spiegel PlusAfD co-founder Konrad Adam: "Gauland stands in front of the ruins of his so-called life's work" An interview by Severin Weiland
AfD after Meuthen's angry speech: Now there is a threat of revenge from the far right by Severin Weiland
Liberal-Conservative Reformers: Luckes party is enjoying popularity from former AfD members by Severin Weiland
Recently there has been increasing evidence that a decision by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution will be made as early as next week to classify the entire party as a “suspected case” in the area of right-wing extremism.
Which in future includes the possibility of intelligence surveillance, including eavesdropping on telecommunications, reading e-mail traffic and messages in social media.
According to information from SPIEGEL, the Federal Ministry of the Interior is currently still examining how it will position itself as a possible classification as a suspected case by the Federal Office.
Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) had instructed the lawyers of his house to thoroughly bend over the approximately 1,000-page report of the constitutional protection officers on this issue with the BfV experts, the reason for the changed classification should be absolutely legally secure, a successful lawsuit the AfD will be excluded in the Bundestag election year.
AfD is taking a precautionary action in Cologne
Meanwhile, the AfD federal party is entering a legal battle.
On Friday she filed two lawsuits and two urgent motions before the administrative court in Cologne - the official seat of the Federal Office is the city on the Rhine.
For example, a so-called hanging decision could be issued on Monday, which would bridge the time until the urgent procedure, which in turn depends on whether the Office for the Protection of the Constitution issues a standstill and does not act before the urgent procedure and classifies it as a suspected case.
What is striking, however, is how active the AfD has become in the past few days at various levels of the risk of an overall classification as a suspected case - which might drive other officials out of the party.
At the beginning of the week, the federal executive board including the honorary chairman Alexander Gauland, all 16 state chairmen (including Höcke), other leaders and the chairman of the Junge Alternative adopted a "declaration on the German state people and German identity".
"The AfD is unreservedly committed to the German people as the sum of all persons who have German citizenship"
The latest declaration by the AfD on the state people
It says that the AfD "unconditionally confesses to the German nationals as the sum of all persons who have German citizenship." Because membership of the nationals is legally independent of "the ethnic and cultural identity of the person concerned," it is believed to be "It is extremely important to attach strict conditions to the acquisition of German citizenship and thus acceptance into the German nation, which has a definitive character."
This declaration is remarkable because it contradicts the basic tenor of many AfD members, as it is often formulated in social media in a contemptuous way towards people with a migration background.
Apparently the paper was also intended to counteract a measure taken by the domestic secret service - in the event of a legal dispute.
Embarrassing breakdown in Berlin helps the AfD
In Berlin, the AfD-Landesverband managed to hit the headlines again in the past few days: the party said it was leaked an “interim report” from the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution from December 2020, and the 43-page bundle is now available to several media outlets.
One of the central sentences in it works like balm for the AfD: There are "no sufficient actual indications for anti-constitutional efforts of the AfD Berlin"
that
can justify a "suspicion of being raised".
The Berlin interior administration did not dispute the interim report, but noted that it had “methodological deficiencies” and “the existing findings had not been adequately assessed according to the standards applicable to the protection of the constitution”.
In the meantime, the authority is looking for the possible source of the indiscretion, criminal charges have been filed against unknown persons.
The AfD in turn, not only the local AfD parliamentary group leader Georg Pazderksi, but also Meuthen himself, the piercing in Berlin comes along.
He accuses the internal administration of exerting pressure internally to revise the interim report, calling it evidence of "political instrumentalization of the protection of the constitution."
Icon: The mirror