Greens Push for Review of Proceedings to Ban the AfD

Leaders of the Green Party parliamentary groups at the federal and state levels have spoken out in favor of examining the possibility of initiating proceedings to ban the AfD. The Greens have no doubt about the danger posed by the AfD, said Britta Haßelmann, chair of the Green Party’s parliamentary group in the Bundestag, in Düsseldorf. For this reason, she said, it is necessary for one of the three constitutional bodies—the Bundestag, the Bundesrat, or the federal government—to take action. The Greens have been trying for nearly a year to launch such an initiative in the Bundestag. 

The proposal by North Rhine-Westphalia Minister-President Hendrik Wüst (CDU) to establish a federal-state working group to examine the constitutional handling of the AfD had also already been under consideration, Haßelmann said. 

The AfD is being monitored nationwide by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution as a suspected extremist organization. Individual state chapters are classified as confirmed far-right extremist groups by the respective state offices for the protection of the constitution. Only the Bundestag, the Bundesrat, or the federal government can file a motion to ban a party with the Federal Constitutional Court. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) had expressed skepticism about the chances of success for potential proceedings to ban the AfD.

Other steps are also possible

Franziska Schubert, leader of the Green Party’s state parliamentary group in Saxony, pointed to the shift in political culture in states like Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony due to the AfD’s strong presence there. “It is high time that this review process gets underway,” Schubert said.

Until then, however, there are other steps that can be taken. For example, it could be examined whether people in the civil service adhere to the democratic basic order. There is also the question of funding for foundations and political parties “that are demonstrably working to completely alter the free democratic basic order.” Above all, however, the federal government’s “fumbling” approach to reforms must come to an end, Schubert said. The problems that led voters to choose the AfD must be resolved.

The chairs of the Green Party parliamentary groups from the states, the federal government, and the European Parliament spent two days in Duisburg and Düsseldorf discussing current political issues.