AfD poster calling for remigration<\/p>\n
For years, the question of whether the Alternative for Germany (AfD) could be banned has hovered at the edges of German politics, with left-wing parties and even some within the Christian Democrats (CDU) calling for the party\u2019s ban \u2014 even if the AfD is the most popular party in the country.<\/p>\n
A sweeping new legal report from a left-wing NGO has now thrust that question back to the center, concluding not only that the party is unconstitutional, but that the country\u2019s top court would likely agree.<\/p>\n
The 1,500-page analysis was produced by the NGO Society for Civil Rights, or the Gesellschaft f\u00fcr Freiheitsrechte (GFF) in German, and unveiled in Berlin on Thursday. Compiled over 13 months by an eight-member team of experts \u2014 it argues that the AfD violates both the principle of democracy and the concept of human dignity enshrined in Germany\u2019s constitution. The authors did not formally demand a ban, but leave little doubt about where their findings point.<\/p>\n
Instead, the report is supposed to serve as the ammunition for a ban.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe legal report reaches the unequivocal conclusion that the AfD is unconstitutional,\u201d said the GFF\u2019s Bijan Moini, who led the project. An application to outlaw the party would, \u201cin our assessment, likely succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Support for Germany\u2019s AfD \u2018firewall\u2019 plummets as voters call to bring party in from the cold<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
At the heart of the report is the claim that the AfD, through both its stated aims and the conduct of its supporters, seeks to \u201cundermine the free democratic basic order.\u201d Its political agenda, the summary states, is directed at the \u201cexclusion, vilification, and extensive legal marginalization\u201d of foreigners, Germans with a migration background, Muslims, and other groups.<\/p>\n
The report comes at a time when the AfD is flirting with 30 percent in the polls and has increasingly distanced itself from the second-place Christian Democrats (CDU), which is now nine points behind the AfD. As a result, opponents of the AfD are increasingly worried they will be unable to defeat the party through democratic means. Even if the AfD is unable to form a majority, if it secures a large enough voter share, it could make state and even the federal government ungovernable for the establishment and left-wing parties.<\/p>\n
Another alarming element for the left is the fact that more and more voters are supportive of the CDU and other parties cooperating with the AfD<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nGermany: Anti-immigration AfD party jumps to record 9-point lead over CDU in new poll<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
One of the report\u2019s central contentions is that the AfD has lost any internal force capable of restraining its so-called most extreme elements.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn internal party faction that publicly and consistently opposes the radical forces within the AfD no longer exists,\u201d it claims.<\/p>\n
Notably, the GFF NGO is funded in part by The European AI & Society Fund and The Digital Freedom Fund (DFF), which are in turn funded by organizations like the Ford Foundation and the Open Society Foundations, which is in turn funded by billionaire George Soros. However, the GFF stated that this specific report was entirely funded through private donations.<\/p>\n
The GFF argues that while some figures within the party have been expelled, the AfD has yet to expel members the NGO claims are the most problematic, including party leader Alice Weidel, MEP Maximilian Krah, and Saxony-Anhalt\u2019s Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, according to Welt newspaper<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nGermany: Poll shows AfD on verge of absolute majority in eastern Saxony-Anhalt just 4 months before election<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
For the report\u2019s authors, the goal is to confirm.that the AfD can indeed be banned legally.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil now, there has been no definitive answer to the question of whether the AfD is unconstitutional and could therefore be banned,\u201d the project leader said, adding that the analysis \u201cnow finally provides clarity for the political sphere and society at large.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is there actual stomach for a ban?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
However, as Remix News has written numerous times, a desire to ban the AfD is far different than applying this desire in practice. So far, the CDU has backed away from pursuing a ban against the AfD, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz going so far as to say that it \u201csmacks too much of the elimination of political rivals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Specifically, he said, \u201cWorking \u2018aggressively and militantly\u2019 against the free democratic basic order must be proven. And the burden of proof lies solely with the state. That is a classic task of the executive branch. And I have always internally resisted initiating ban proceedings from within the Bundestag. That smacks too much of political competition elimination to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Remix News also wrote an analysis at the time explaining why the ban of the AfD represents a clear electoral threat to the CDU<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Under German law, only the Bundestag, the Bundesrat, or the federal government can petition the Federal Constitutional Court to ban a party, and only that court can ultimately rule a party unconstitutional. The SPD, the CDU\u2019s junior coalition party, has been openly calling for a ban, but without the CDU\u2019s support, such an action has no chance of passing in the Bundestag.<\/p>\n
Major victory for the AfD in court<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Even if it were to pass, the Constitutional Court may reject such a petition. In February of this year, efforts to ban the AfD suffered a major blow<\/a> when the Cologne Administrative Court decided the powerful domestic spy agency, the Office of the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), could not classify the federal AfD as \u201cconfirmed right-wing extremist,\u201d at least until a full ruling was issued. However, the preliminary ruling did not bode well for the BfV and the German establishment, according to a number of legal analysts.<\/p>\n
The judiciary stated while there was sufficient evidence that efforts against the free democratic basic order were under way within the AfD, it stated that this designation could not apply to the party as a whole, finding it was not \u201cshaped in a way that would lead to the conclusion \u2014 based on its overall character \u2014 that there is a fundamental tendency hostile to the constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n
A ruling in the main proceedings is still pending, but after this ruling, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) called for a political rather than legal fight, saying the AfD must be \u201cgoverned away, not banned away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u2018Rule of law in Germany is still functioning\u2019 \u2013 Victory for the anti-immigration AfD party as court rules against ban on the party \u2013 for now<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n