The question has been asked for a while, but the EU elections have brought it back to the forefront of the news: Should the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party be banned? After the AfD won 15.9% of the vote on June 9, its best result nationwide since it was founded in 2013, those who want to outlaw it are more determined than ever.
This is the case for former Federal Government Commissioner for the New Federal States (2020-2021) Marco Wanderwitz, who is also an MP (Christian Democratic Union; CDU). For the past two years, he has been seeking support from his colleagues in the Bundestag to launch a procedure to ban the AfD. For this to happen, 5% of parliamentarians – so at least 37 elected representatives – must give their approval. "We have gathered the sufficient number," Wanderwitz told the daily newspaper Le Tageszeitung on Monday, June 17.
A few weeks ago, this quorum was far from being reached. The change is attributable to several reasons. "In January, there was the information from the investigative website Correctiv [about a secret AfD plan to deport millions of immigrants and Germans of foreign origin to North Africa]," Wanderwitz said to Le Monde. "Then there was the investigation, led by Bavarian radio and television, that revealed that many of the AfD's parliamentary staffers are members of the ultra-right. And yet, despite all these revelations that shed light on the true face of this party, and despite the mass demonstrations that took place throughout Germany against it, the AfD got the best result in its history at the European elections on June 9. This proves that action is urgently needed."
For Wanderwitz, who has been arguing for a ban on the AfD for over two years, the recent ruling by Münster's administrative court is a decisive argument. At the end of May, the court authorized the Federal Intelligence Service to keep the AfD "under surveillance," rejecting the party's objection to its classification as a "suspected extremist group." However, Wanderwitz has no intention of rushing into anything. "We're going to wait until we have the judgment in written form: Over a thousand pages at the very least, which must be submitted to us by October at the latest. And once we've examined everything, we'll be able to move on to the next stage."
Meanwhile, proponents of banning the AfD are preparing their fight. A week after the European elections, a collective called "Ban AfD Now" was formed in Berlin, bringing together several trade unions, associations and intellectuals.
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