German Solution: Ban the AfD Extremists

After suffering defeats in all of the three eastern state elections this year, the mainstream parties are now pushing a petition to ban the far-right AfD party

After last month’s elections in the three former DDR-states in the east of Germany, politicians are still reluctant to engage with the Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) because of their in part extreme positions and because they are causing disturbances in the new parliaments. AfD became the biggest group in the state parliament of Thuringia following its election victory in early September. As is customary, at the first session of the new parliament, the oldest member was chair of proceedings. This person happens to be AfD member Jürgen Treutler (73) who proceeded to stipulate that no motions be passed and no votes be taken. He used a loophole in the rules of procedure to cling on to his seat and prevent another candidate to become speaker. A de facto coup that stunned the assembly and caused the session to be interrupted.

Jürgen Treutler as a candidate for AfD (Press handout)

It took a couple of days to get the Constitutional Court of Thuringia declare this behavior illegal, and finally, the real proceedings could begin. After that, the conservative CDU member Thadäus König was elected speaker. (Süsdeutsche Zeitung, conservative newspaper) Similar did not happen in the other two states where AfD also grew but did not achieve status as largest group in those parliaments.

Another leading member of the parliament, Georg Maier of the Social Democrats and also acting interior minister, wrote on X in favor of raising the case for banning AfD with the federal constitutional court. AfD has already in 2021 been declared a right-wing extremist party, which does not mean it is illegal in Germany, but that the party is under warning and observation for possible illegal activities and other transgressions.

Today's events in the Thuringian state parliament have shown that the #AfD is aggressively fighting against parliamentarism. I think that this constitutes the preconditions for a banning procedure.

The potentiality that is also required for a party ban and the violation of Article 1 of the Basic Law is already since long clearly established in the AfD.

I already expressed my thoughts on this in December 2023. Today shows that I was not entirely wrong. (Georg Maier on X, September 26, 2024)

This leaves the case open for handling at the federal level. A group of 37 politicians from all parties - except AfD - in the Bundestag federal parliament has signed a petition to have AfD banned. This would be in accordance with Article 21 of the German Constitution, the Basic Law, number 2 and 3:

Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany

Article 21

(1) The parties participate in the political will-formation of the people. They are free to form their own parties. Their internal organization must conform to democratic principles. They must publicly account for the origin and use of their funds and their assets.

(2) Parties whose aims or the behavior of their supporters are aimed at impairing or eliminating the free democratic basic order or at endangering the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany are unconstitutional.

(3) Parties whose aims or the behavior of their supporters are aimed at impairing or eliminating the free democratic basic order or at endangering the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany are excluded from state funding. If the exclusion is established, these parties will also no longer be entitled to tax benefits or donations to these parties.

(4) The Federal Constitutional Court will decide on the question of unconstitutionality under paragraph 2 and on the exclusion from state funding under paragraph 3.

(5) Federal laws regulate the details.

(Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland)

The last attempt of banning a party for being unconstitutional failed in 2017. The far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), which has since renamed itself Die Heimat (the homeland), was not banned by the court, because: NPD was indeed unconstitutional, but also politically insignificant. They had not managed to gain any permanent seats in state parliaments, unlike AfD that are now represented nearly nation-wide. Note also that the NDP party name is (intentionally) similar to the former, also banned, Nazi party Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei - NSDAP which in itself was enough to make voters shy away from it.

In May, AfD was expelled from the otherwise far right group in the European Parliament, Identity and Democracy (ID), where among others, the French right-wing party National Rally of Matine Le Pen are leading members.

Long-simmering tensions between European far-right parties came to a boil this week when Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s lead candidate for the European election, told an Italian newspaper that members of the Nazi SS were not necessarily criminals.

Following those comments, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, whose National Rally party had belonged to the same grouping as the AfD, said she no longer wants to sit with the party. (Politico eu)

In the vote that may be due in the Bundestag, a majority would have to vote in favor of filing a petition to ban the AfD. It is then up to the Federal Constitutional Court to decide, as with NPD. There are different opinions about what to expect, but, as with the NPD, so far no other party has been willing to work in coalition with AfD, so it has no realistic prospect of becoming part of a government.

Even when possibly successful in making a party go away, that does not mean the people that voted for it automatically disappear by some kind of magic. Germany is struggling to find out how to handle this situation, and many will most likely turn their head to EU for some kind of a helping hand to minimize the problem.