Thuringia’s Interior Minister, Georg Maier of the SPD, has supported the initiation of proceedings to ban the AfD party. Speaking on the “Machtmenschen” podcast from “Focus,” Maier stated that the arguments currently available are sufficient to launch such a procedure. He emphasized that his goal is not to eliminate a political rival, but rather to utilize the “control mechanism of robust democracy.”
He based his argument on the German Basic Law (Grundgesetz). According to Article 21, political parties are unconstitutional if their goals or the behavior of their supporters aim to impair or abolish the liberal democratic basic order, or to endanger the continuity of the Federal Republic of Germany. Although the Federal Constitutional Court determines the question of unconstitutionality, the judges cannot act on their own initiative according to the Federal Constitutional Court Law; instead, a review mandate must be issued by the Bundestag, the Bundesrat, or the Federal Government.
Maier asserted that Article 21 clearly stipulates the conditions under which parties are deemed unconstitutional, and that it is not a discretionary rule. For him, the party’s ethnically nationalistic character is the most crucial factor. Maier pointed out that the AfD defines the people of a state not by citizenship but by ethnicity-a point, he noted, where the AfD differs from other right-populist parties in Europe, and one that they could change at any time. However, he added that if the AfD adopted a different course, moving toward a more typical right-populist party, “we would have to tolerate that in Germany.”
Despite this potential for moderation, Maier does not believe the party will moderate itself. He suggested that AfD co-chair Alice Weidel must separate herself from Björn Höcke, when to which she responded, “Does she have the strength to do that? I don’t think so.”
