Germany wrestles with calls to ban AfD – again

Revelations that members of Germany’s far-right AfD party secretly met with extremist neo-Nazis and businessmen in a hotel in November have sparked fresh calls for the party to be thrown out of parliament at a time it is polling higher than any of the governing parties at 22%.

The revelation was published by independent and investigative not-for-profit newsroom Correctiv, which cites a secretive meeting attended by high-ranking politicians from the AfD, neo-Nazis and influential businessmen in a hotel near Potsdam at the end of November.

But while the revelation has rattled the German political scene, with high level politicians expressing favour for the ban, the Federal Government appears to be treading lightly.

“I have a certain sympathy for [such a ban], no doubt about it,” Minister-President of the northern German state Schleswig-Holstein, Daniel Günther (CDU/EPP), said in an interview with Hamburger Abendblatt on Wednesday.

“We notice how dangerous they are. Even here in Schleswig-Holstein,” he added.

Besides the German Constitutional Court opposing a ban on the extremist National Democratic Party (NPD) in 2017, mainly due to it being viewed as not having enough influence at the time, now going against a popular party like AfD would likely be difficult.

Indeed, as opposed to NPD at the time, the AfD is currently polling above any of the coalition parties with 22%, which sets them only behind CDU, a recent poll has found.

AfD is also leading by significant margins in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, the three states in which state elections are due this year, according to a poll published by ntv on Thursday.

This is why Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP/Renew) is especially cautious, stressing that if one were to go down that route, one should be sure it would be successful.

“Because if you were to […] play with a considerable risk […], then there is, of course, the threat of a PR victory for the AfD,” he said.

Controversial views on remigration

At the secret meeting in November, participants discussed “remigration” and were presented with a plan to expel unwanted residents in Germany, such as “non-assimilated citizens”, which, in other words, questioning the fundamental rights of German citizens who do not fit into their viewpoint.

But this provoked a strong reaction from Scholz, who on X said: “Anyone who opposes our free democratic basic order is a case for our Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Judiciary”.

The AfD responded that what was discussed could not be linked to the AfD as a party.

“The AfD will not change its stance on immigration policy, which can be found in the party programme, because of a single individual’s opinion at a meeting that was not an AfD event,” the party’s press office told Euractiv.

However, many high-level politicians are calling for the AfD to be watched closely.

While SPD co-leader Saskia Esken told ntv that “we shouldn’t wait until the AfD is too relevant,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) told Stern that “nobody should underestimate [the extremist] danger”.

“We are once again seeing that it is necessary and right for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution to keep a very close eye on […] how enemies of the constitution connect with AfD representatives and which inhuman ideologies are propagated there,” the minister added.

On the side of the conservative opposition, Bundestag Member Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU) believes that a ban on the AfD is possible following the revelations, according to tagesschau.de.

(Kjeld Neubert | Euractiv.de)