In the event of a court ruling: East German commissioner for AfD ban application

In the debate about a possible ban on the AfD, Elisabeth Kaiser (SPD), the Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany, believes that the federal states have a particular responsibility. If the classification of the party as a whole by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution as proven right-wing extremist is upheld in court, she believes the federal states will have to draw the necessary consequences. "If the court confirms the classification of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, then I expect the federal states to take action to ensure that an application for a ban is made," Kaiser told the German Press Agency.

She addressed her demand in particular to the federal states in which the Social Democrats are in government. Kaiser said that her party's position was clear on this point. "It helps that the AfD is now increasingly being recognized as a threat in the western German states as well."

Decision by the SPD

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the AfD as a secure extremist party nationwide last spring. The AfD is taking legal action against this classification before the Cologne Administrative Court. The assessments of individual AfD state associations by individual state constitution protection authorities are not affected by this legal dispute. The Thuringian AfD state association has been classified as proven right-wing extremist by the state constitution protection agency for years.

The SPD had spoken out in favor of preparing an AfD ban procedure at a federal party conference in the summer. "It is our historic task to get them out of parliament again," said SPD federal chairman Lars Klingbeil at the time. "From historical experience, we have a constitution that provides the instruments."

Courts should decide

Kaiser said that it was important to emphasize that her party was not calling for an AfD ban with the corresponding party conference resolution. "It is a common misunderstanding that the SPD wants to ban the AfD," she said. "What we really want is for the courts to decide whether the AfD should be banned or not." For such a decision to be made, however, an application must first be submitted to the Federal Constitutional Court for review.

There are high hurdles for a party ban procedure in Germany. Only the Bundesrat, the Bundestag or the federal government can apply for the Federal Constitutional Court to deal with the question of whether a nationally active party should be banned or not. The decision on whether or not to ban the party would then lie solely with this court.

Maier also in favor of initiating ban proceedings

In the past, Thuringia's Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD) has also repeatedly spoken out in favor of initiating proceedings to ban the AfD - unlike other state ministers or senators in Germany. Berlin Senator of Justice Felor Badenberg (CDU), for example, recently warned the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" newspaper against such proceedings, as they have no clear prospects of success. "In my view, the situation is different for the Thuringian state association. In this respect, I advocate a corresponding application by the Thuringian state government in the Bundesrat so that it can submit a ban application to the Federal Constitutional Court as a constitutional body," she said.

In the debate, there are also repeated discussions about banning individual state associations of the party instead of the AfD as a whole.