Germany is once again debating the possibility of banning Alternative for Germany (AfD). This time, the push comes not from a court ruling, nor from a direct government decision, but from an extensive legal report produced by the NGO Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte (GFF). The organisation, whose name (ironically) translates as ‘Society for Civil Rights,’ argues that the party is unconstitutional as per Article 21(2) of Germany’s Basic Law.
The document, presented this week, was immediately used by leaders of the SPD and the Greens as an opportunity to reopen the debate over a ban procedure before the Federal Constitutional Court. The report is based on public sources: speeches, social media posts, party programmes, parliamentary motions, and statements by party officials.
Social Democratic leader Bärbel Bas called for the consideration of “legal steps,” while Green officials demanded progress toward a formal application against the party.
Formally, neither Bas nor the Greens can ban AfD. German law reserves that decision for the Constitutional Court. In addition, only the Bundestag, the Bundesrat, or the federal government can submit an application for a party ban. But it is clear that they do not want to miss the opportunity to turn an external report into institutional ammunition to further isolate a party that already competes as one of the country’s main electoral forces.
GFF accuses AfD of violating human dignity and the democratic principle. According to its authors, the party promotes an “ethno-cultural” concept of the German people, discriminates against citizens with a migrant background, and treats its political opponents as enemies of the democratic order.
The report also seeks to distinguish the AfD case from the NPD precedent, whose attempted ban failed in 2017 because the Constitutional Court found that the party labelled as neo-Nazi lacked any real capacity to impose its programme.
That is the key point. The NPD was marginal. AfD is not. It has representation in the Bundestag, in regional parliaments, and electoral support that, in several polls, places it close to or above the major traditional parties. Precisely for that reason, its opponents now present its democratic strength as a legal argument against it.
The offensive also comes at a time when AfD has questioned the role of NGOs financed directly or indirectly with public funds, and their influence over German political life.