Following the classification of the AfD as a confirmed right-wing extremist movement by the Federal Agency for the Protection of the Constitution, trade unions are calling for guidelines from the political and administrative bodies on how to deal with party members in the public service. Jochen Kopelke, the federal chairman of the Police Union, told the “Wochenzeit” (Saturday edition) that there now needs to be “coordinated action by interior ministers on federal and state levels” in dealing with employees with an AfD party card.
Immediately following the classification, there would be no impact on police officers, unlike in the case of a party ban, Kopelke explained. However, it would have “medium to long-term effects on employees in the public service, particularly police personnel.” This is because they are obligated by their constitutional duty of loyalty to actively protect the democratic order.
The head of the education union GEW, Maike Finnern, also told the “Wochenzeit” that she had already seen a “need for action” before the AfD was upgraded, if teachers “represent positions in class that contradict the democratic order.” She does not believe that a general suspicion of teachers with a party card is “productive.” However, there now needs to be case-by-case inspections, systematic complaint and reporting procedures, as well as prevention and intervention concepts. Politicians and administrations must provide schools with a framework for action so that they can “have clarity where red lines are” Finnern said.
The director of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials, Jens-Christian Wagner, called the upgrade “overdue.” It would make it easier to deny participation in memorial events to AfD functionaries “to prevent normalization” Wagner said to the “Wochenzeit.” It would also not be fair to ask relatives of NS victims to sit next to right-wing extremists at these events, who “downplay or even deny the suffering of NS victims.”
Last Friday, the former Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) announced the upgrade of the AfD as a “confirmed right-wing extremist movement” by the Federal Agency for the Protection of the Constitution. The intelligence agency has since made a “standstill promise” to suspend this classification until a court ruling on an emergency lawsuit by the AfD is available.