Its popularity has continuously grown due to its tough stance on immigration, and the fact it has called out the recent German governments for their poor handling of the economy and the energy crisis.
The establishment parties, afraid of the AfD’s rise in the polls, are using all kinds of undemocratic methods and dirty tricks to undermine the AfD’s credibility: they are legally spying on the party, withholding state funds, and publishing false media reports, including an “investigative” left-wing article about the Potsdam meeting, which falsely claimed that the participants of the conference had discussed the deportation of German citizens of foreign origin.
If a motion to ban the AfD were passed, the constitutional court would then decide whether the party poses a threat to the country’s democratic order and the rule of law. As we recently reported, there is an aversion among many MPs to ask the court to impose a ban—mostly because constitutional law experts believe the AfD does not meet the conditions required for a ban, namely because it does not fight the free democratic basic order “aggressively and combatively.”
The debate could be a symbolic move, aimed at demonstrating a commitment to confronting the AfD, but it could also backfire, and further strengthen the party.
The Greens themselves will put forward a competing motion in the parliament on Thursday, signed by 43 MPs, “to determine the unconstitutionality of the AfD.” This motion does not intend to ask the constitutional court for a ban directly. Instead, it wants the Bundestag speaker to appoint a group of “experts to examine the prospects of success” of a potential ban.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel has previously criticised attempts to ban her party, saying that these “reflect the undemocratic spirit of the competing parties.”
However, the latest motion will likely not in any way impact AfD’s decision to support the CDU/CSU’s draft bill to tighten asylum laws, which is being debated on Wednesday in the parliament. The right-wing party has expressed its backing of the plan, under which illegal and undocumented migrants would be turned back at the country’s borders.
The centre-right alliance has been criticised by the leftist parties for accepting the votes of the AfD and tearing down the cordon sanitaire surrounding the right-wing party in order to push through its initiative. But apart from collaborating on this issue, it is unlikely that the CDU/CSU will be willing to cooperate with the AfD on any other matter.
The German parliament will debate on Thursday, January 30th whether to ban the opposition right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party.
A group of lawmakers, 113 MPs, have called for parliament to discuss a motion which would invite the constitutional court to decide whether the party is unconstitutional.The motion is supported by MPs from the centre-right CDU/CSU alliance, the far-left Die Linke, as well as the two governing parties, the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens.
The signatories claim that the AfD “opposes central basic principles of the free democratic basic order,” questions human dignity, and strives for the “ethno-nationalist strengthening” of the German identity.
The motion cites court rulings, investigation by journalists, and the domestic intelligence agency’s classification of the party as evidence. It also mentions the infamous, and misreported, Potsdam conference at the end of 2023 where members of the AfD and other right-wing movements met to discuss their plans for halting illegal migration.
Proposals to ban the party have cropped up many times during the past few years, with politicians from the radical left to the centre-right espousing the idea.
The AfD is stronger than ever: polls suggest it will achieve its best ever result in the national elections on February 23rd—it is currently polling in second place at 23%. It also recently won its first state election in the eastern state of Thuringia, gathering a third of all votes.
Its popularity has continuously grown due to its tough stance on immigration, and the fact it has called out the recent German governments for their poor handling of the economy and the energy crisis.
The establishment parties, afraid of the AfD’s rise in the polls, are using all kinds of undemocratic methods and dirty tricks to undermine the AfD’s credibility: they are legally spying on the party, withholding state funds, and publishing false media reports, including an “investigative” left-wing article about the Potsdam meeting, which falsely claimed that the participants of the conference had discussed the deportation of German citizens of foreign origin.
If a motion to ban the AfD were passed, the constitutional court would then decide whether the party poses a threat to the country’s democratic order and the rule of law. As we recently reported, there is an aversion among many MPs to ask the court to impose a ban—mostly because constitutional law experts believe the AfD does not meet the conditions required for a ban, namely because it does not fight the free democratic basic order “aggressively and combatively.”
The debate could be a symbolic move, aimed at demonstrating a commitment to confronting the AfD, but it could also backfire, and further strengthen the party.
The Greens themselves will put forward a competing motion in the parliament on Thursday, signed by 43 MPs, “to determine the unconstitutionality of the AfD.” This motion does not intend to ask the constitutional court for a ban directly. Instead, it wants the Bundestag speaker to appoint a group of “experts to examine the prospects of success” of a potential ban.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel has previously criticised attempts to ban her party, saying that these “reflect the undemocratic spirit of the competing parties.”
However, the latest motion will likely not in any way impact AfD’s decision to support the CDU/CSU’s draft bill to tighten asylum laws, which is being debated on Wednesday in the parliament. The right-wing party has expressed its backing of the plan, under which illegal and undocumented migrants would be turned back at the country’s borders.
The centre-right alliance has been criticised by the leftist parties for accepting the votes of the AfD and tearing down the cordon sanitaire surrounding the right-wing party in order to push through its initiative. But apart from collaborating on this issue, it is unlikely that the CDU/CSU will be willing to cooperate with the AfD on any other matter.
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/panicking-german-establishment-attempts-to-ban-afd/