Thorsten Frei, leader of the CDU parliamentary group, currently does not believe that the prerequisites for banning the Alternative for Germany (AfD) are met. While he insists that the constitution explicitly allows for such party bans, he told the Funke Media Group that he cannot currently imagine a plausible scenario where he would support one. He stated that the material collected by the domestic intelligence service regarding the AfD is not sufficient for a ban.
This stance contrasts with Deputy Chancellor and SPD head Lars Klingbeil, who had recently called in an article for the publication “Die Zeit” insisting that the possibility of a ban should be seriously examined before the Federal Constitutional Court.
Frei expressed skepticism about the viability of a ban. For a successful banning procedure, he argues, a party must actively and aggressively challenge the democratic constitutional order or seek to eliminate it. He stressed that merely investigating unconstitutional statements made by individuals, such as Thuringia’s AfD leader Björn Höcke, is insufficient. Such statements must be defining features of the entire party to justify a ban, a circumstance he finds currently unlikely because the AfD has not integrated its anti-constitutional positions into its official party program.
The CDU politician also raised political reservations. A protracted banning process, he warned, would cast the AfD in a martyr role, which they would exploit. Furthermore, he noted that it would appear questionable if other parties, which garner significantly less support than the AfD, requested a ban, as this could lead to the suspicion that they are merely attempting to dispose of an unwelcome political rival.
Despite his doubts regarding a ban, Frei did observe that the AfD is continuing to radicalize. He noted that while similar right-wing parties in Italy and France have gradually shifted toward the political center over the years, the AfD is moving in the opposite direction, suggesting that this process of radicalization is likely not yet complete.
