The classification of the AfD as a "suspected extremist case" is still being debated before the Higher Administrative Court in Münster. There are already repeated calls to use the possible confirmation of the Cologne ruling as an opportunity to ban the party.
The parliamentary director of the Greens, Till Steffen, has also clearly taken a position on this. A party ban is made possible by the Basic Law, but it represents a complicated process that has only been implemented twice in the history of the Federal Republic. A ban procedure against the right-wing extremist NPD was discontinued in 2003 due to procedural obstacles. The decision on a party ban would be made by the Federal Constitutional Court. It is not enough for a party to question or even openly reject the “supreme constitutional values” in its political expression of opinion. Rather, it would have to be proven that the party “not only represents an anti-constitutional stance, but also wants to implement this stance in an active, combative, aggressive manner,” says the Federal Ministry of the Interior.