Greens cautious about banning AfD

The Greens remain cautious with regard to banning the AfD. "We will have to examine and assess this again and again," said Bundestag parliamentary group leader Britta Haßelmann on Friday after a meeting with her counterparts from the federal states in Dresden. There is no simple yes or no to the question of a ban procedure.

However, a substantive debate with the AfD is urgently needed. The party has no answers to questions about the future, neither for Germany nor for individual federal states. As an example, Haßelmann cited AfD leader Alice Weidel's thoughts on Germany leaving the EU. Something like that could also leave some citizens feeling frightened.

According to Haßelmann, there is rightly a very high hurdle for a party ban. The question of how security authorities gather information and draw conclusions is relevant.

At the moment, three state associations of the AfD - in Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony - are classified as confirmed right-wing extremist. The security authorities would continue to gather information and material, and the political actors would then have to deal with it carefully.

Saxony's Green Party parliamentary group leader Franziska Schubert recalled other possibilities for a defensive democracy and referred to a corresponding paper by Green Party interior politicians from Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. Schubert said that she could understand the desire for an AfD ban because it felt very catchy. However, a whole range of things could be brought into play. Schubert mentioned, among other things, the control of money flows to parties and the examination of candidates' compliance with the constitution. A party ban is the sharpest sword. However, precision rather than volume is needed on this issue.

The Greens' parliamentary group leaders' conference in Dresden spent two days focusing on the issues of democracy and social cohesion. Party chairwoman Ricarda Lang was also present.

Haßelmann described the nationwide demonstrations against right-wing extremism as an encouraging sign. Strengthening democracy is particularly important these days. Many people in Berlin, Dresden and Bielefeld, but also in smaller towns across the country, are concerned about this. In this way, they are expressing what democracy is worth to them.

Political scientists have repeatedly attested to the radicalization of the AfD. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the party as a suspected right-wing extremist. The AfD wants this classification to be withdrawn. A decision on this is expected from the Higher Administrative Court in Münster in March.

In Saxony, the AfD has announced legal action against its categorization as a right-wing extremist movement. It first wants to gain access to the report by the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which the authority used as the basis for its classification.

After revelations by the Correctiv research center about a meeting of radical right-wingers in Potsdam on 25 November 2023, a ban on the AfD was repeatedly brought into play. The meeting was attended by several AfD politicians as well as individual members of the CDU and the very conservative Werteunion.