The legal scholar Frauke Rostalski, who is a member of the German Ethics Council, has voiced strong criticism regarding the ongoing debate surrounding a potential ban on the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. In an article published in the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” (NOZ), the Cologne-based law professor argues that instead of critically examining the party’s actual policies and content, many people seem to find it easier simply to exclude it entirely. Rostalski posits that pressing societal questions will not be resolved by forbidding a party or barring a candidate.
According to Rostalski’s view, taking such a drastic measure risks eroding public trust in state representatives. She suggests that it creates the impression that those who seek to remove political competition from the electoral process no longer believe they can win an election through the ballot box.
While the Basic Law supports the concept of a “militant democracy” (wehrhafte Demokratie), Rostalski cautions that relying on this concept can lead to the restriction of fundamental democratic rights. Anyone invoking the idea of a militant democracy must do so carefully and be aware of the inherent dilemma. Furthermore, she questions whether this awareness is genuinely “well-developed” in practice, stressing that the means of militant democracy should always be a measure of last resort.
She cites the exclusion of AfD candidates from the local elections in Lower Saxony on September 13th as an example of a severe infringement on fundamental rights. Rostalski states that mere membership in a non-banned party should not be sufficient grounds for imposing such a consequence in the NOZ. The fact that this instrument seems to be being applied “on a larger scale” suggests, she implies, that the much-needed restraint is currently lacking.
In her conclusion, the legal expert insists that those genuinely interested in the strength of democracy must address the root causes of public discontent-the reasons why so many citizens feel their concerns are ignored by “parties of the political center.” Issues such as migration, economic decline, and internal security will not vanish through banning procedures; they will only disappear when they are taken seriously.
