Status: 16.01.2024, 18:19 PM
By: Jens Kiffmeier
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The AfD's secret meeting with right-wing extremists could have an aftermath: Nancy Faeser is considering a ban. But this is not yet clear enough for the CDU.
Berlin – The debate about banning the AfD is picking up speed: After the secret meeting of party representatives with right-wing extremists in Potsdam, the CDU/CSU is demanding a clear position from the federal government. For example, Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) now sees Nancy Faeser (SPD) in particular as responsible. It is "up to the Federal Minister of the Interior, if necessary the Cabinet, the Federal Chancellor" to decide on the initiation of proceedings, Merz said, announcing that he would be breathing down the neck of the traffic light coalition on this issue. "Until concrete proposals are on the table, I will make further statements on this in public," he added, accusing the governing alliance of inaction as a whole.
The discussion about a possible ban on the AfD is not new. However, it has been experiencing new momentum for a few days now. The background is a secret meeting between right-wing extremists and functionaries of the right-wing populist party in Potsdam. Research by Correctiv had uncovered the meeting in a villa and provoked an outcry. According to the report, the former head of the far-right Identitarian Movement in Austria, Martin Sellner, also took part in the meeting, where concepts for "remigration" were reportedly discussed. Right-wing extremists usually understand this to mean the expulsion of people of foreign origin. However, Union supporters may also have taken part in the meeting, so CDU General Secretary Carsten Linnemann has already promised an examination of the events.
After secret meetings in Potsdam, Faeser does not rule out a ban on the AfD
Regardless of this, Nancy Faeser considers an AfD ban procedure to be quite possible. "I don't rule it out," the minister told SWR. However, such a step would be the "sharpest sword" and the hurdles in the constitution would be high. That is why it is necessary for the democratic parties to first deal with the AfD in a united manner. The impression should not be created that there are calls for a party ban because politicians are not making any progress in terms of arguments, Faeser warned.
Debate about a ban on the AfD: Union parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) demands more clarity from Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD). © Marton Monus/Marco Rauch/Jan Woitas/dpa/Montage
For Friedrich Merz, however, cooperation is rather difficult at the moment. The Union's willingness to talk to the federal government and, if necessary, to act together remains unchanged, Merz said, according to the dpa news agency. However, the federal government argues too much among itself, so that it makes "relatively little sense" to "come together here for talks". The CDU leader added: "The question of how we work together with the federal government must be decided by the federal government." So far, talks have not yielded any result.
The AfD itself was emphatically unimpressed by the debate. For example, the parliamentary secretary of the Bundestag parliamentary group, Bernd Baumann, did not want to overestimate the meeting of radical right-wingers in Potsdam. The public reaction to this meeting was exaggerated. "This was not a secret meeting," Baumann said, but a "private appointment."
Polls on the AfD: Germans are divided over ban procedure
In any case, the party is not yet feeling any losses in the polls. According to the latest trend barometer by RTL and n-tv, the AfD is again in second place this week with 22 percent – behind the CDU/CSU. And the Germans were similarly divided as politicians when it came to a ban procedure. For example, 47 percent would be in favor and 48 percent against.
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Against this background, more than 50 academics from the Martin Luther University in Halle (an der Saale) have launched an appeal and called for a broad discussion on how to deal with the AfD. They emphasise that democracy is challenged and that disputes in a democracy are constitutive, but must always be settled on the basis of the liberal constitutional order. The researchers see a special responsibility in standing up for the free democratic basic order and regard the AfD as a threat to this order. (jeki
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