German Green Party Leaders Urge Minister-Presidents to Move Forward with AfD Ban Proceedings
Top officials from the German Green Party, including Parliamentary Business Manager Irene Mihalic and Deputy Faction Leader Konstantin von Notz, have called on the country’s minister-presidents to take immediate action to initiate a ban on the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
In an interview with the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, Mihalic and von Notz emphasized the need for the minister-presidents to work together with the Chancellor to overcome the current stalemate and move forward with the AfD ban proceedings. They warned that any further delay would be a waste of time, as the proceedings must be thoroughly prepared.
The officials criticized the recent conference of interior ministers, which they said had missed an opportunity to take decisive action against the AfD. They urged the minister-presidents not to repeat the same mistake.
In a veiled reference to Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister-President Reiner Haseloff, who has previously suggested he might consider leaving the state if the AfD were to gain power, Mihalic and von Notz said that instead of contemplating a hypothetical exodus, the minister-presidents should focus on ensuring that the enemies of the constitution never gain a majority.
The Green Party leaders welcomed the support of the SPD’s federal board for the creation of a Bund-Länder working group to collect and review all relevant materials, a crucial step towards a potential ban on the AfD.
The AfD’s radicalization and the need for a ban have been a topic of increasing concern in Germany, with the party’s anti-constitutional and anti-democratic rhetoric and actions sparking widespread alarm. According to Article 21 of the German Constitution, parties that aim to abolish or undermine the free democratic basic order or put the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany at risk are considered unconstitutional. The German Federal Constitutional Court ultimately decides on the question of unconstitutionality and a ban can be initiated by the Bundestag, Bundesrat, or the federal government.