A party ban is a difficult and lengthy matter in Germany - but a Green party is now calling for it to be initiated in the case of the AfD.
Berlin - Although 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. Now, in a conversation with the news portal
T-Online.de,
the parliamentary director of the Greens, Till Steffen, has also clearly taken a position on this.
There are several arguments in favor of Steffen for a ban on the AfD, including the debate that became known in January about the “remigration plans” of some party supporters or the intention of Brandenburg's top candidate Hans-Christoph Berndt to support the abolition of the party state, the protection of the constitution and public to strengthen legal broadcasting. In addition, according to the Green politician, there are currently increasing indications that “some MPs from Russia are to be financed”.
“Decided for radicalization”: arguments for and against banning the AfD
In Steffen's opinion, these arguments in conjunction with the Cologne court decision made at the beginning of March to classify the AfD as a suspected extremist case are sufficient to bring about party ban proceedings against the party, of which the lawyer and former Hamburg Justice Senator tells
T-Online.de
, she “chose to radicalize.” However, in addition to the findings of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, there would also have to be “own legal opinions” with which the application can be “well justified”.
Many who have commented on the debate so far consider it unlikely that this good justification can lead to a ban on the AfD, which has already been classified as “certain right-wing extremist” by the state Office for the Protection of the Constitution in three federal states. For example, CDU leader Friedrich Merz warned that a ban would not only take years, but would also strengthen the AfD “in its role as a martyr.” Anke Rehlinger, SPD Prime Minister in Saarland, expressed the fear that an application for a party ban, which would not almost certainly lead to success, would organize “a disastrous success” for the party, “which it will exploit”.
Law banning parties: proceedings against the NPD were discontinued in 2003
In fact, a party ban is made possible by the Basic Law, but it represents a complicated process that, according to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, has only been implemented twice in the history of the Federal Republic: in 1952 in the case of the National Socialist Socialist Reich Party (SRP) and 1956 in the case of the Stalinist KPD . A ban procedure against the right-wing extremist NPD was discontinued in 2003 due to procedural obstacles. According to a report by the German Press Agency, if it were to happen, an application for a ban would have to be submitted by the Bundestag, the Federal Government or the Bundesrat. The decision on a party ban would be made by the Federal Constitutional Court.
According to the law, 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’s website. (
saka
with
dpa
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AFP
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