German Parliament Debates AfD Party Ban As Mainstream CDU Accepts 'Far-Right’ Votes On Hard-Line Immigration Bill
With Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) polling better than ever before, and Germany’s conservative chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz accepting votes from the nationalists to pass a hard-line migration resolution through parliament, we could not help but see the irony in the timing as the German parliament will debate on Thursday, January 30th whether to ban the opposition right-wing AfD party.
As The European Conservative reports, a group of lawmakers, 113 MPs, have called for parliament to discuss a motion which would invite the constitutional court to decide whether the party is unconstitutional.The motion is supported by MPs from the centre-right CDU/CSU alliance, the far-left Die Linke, as well as the two governing parties, the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens.
The signatories claim that the AfD “opposes central basic principles of the free democratic basic order,” questions human dignity, and strives for the “ethno-nationalist strengthening” of the German identity.
Its popularity has continuously grown due to its tough stance on immigration, and the fact it has called out the recent German governments for their poor handling of the economy and the energy crisis.
The establishment parties, afraid of the AfD’s rise in the polls, are using all kinds of undemocratic methods and dirty tricks to undermine the AfD’s credibility: they are legally spying on the party, withholding state funds, and publishing false media reports, including an “investigative” left-wing article about the Potsdam meeting, which falsely claimed that the participants of the conference had discussed the deportation of German citizens of foreign origin.
If a motion to ban the AfD were passed, the constitutional court would then decide whether the party poses a threat to the country’s democratic order and the rule of law. As we recently reported, there is an aversion among many MPs to ask the court to impose a ban—mostly because constitutional law experts believe the AfD does not meet the conditions required for a ban, namely because it does not fight the free democratic basic order “aggressively and combatively.”
The debate could be a symbolic move, aimed at demonstrating a commitment to confronting the AfD, but it could also backfire, and further strengthen the party.
The AfD is not alone in facing a ban though, as leftists rage over Germany’s conservative chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz decision to accept votes from the AfD to pass a hard-line migration resolution through parliament.
As Remix News reports, the political fallout is coming fast and furious after the Christian Democrats (CDU) passed a historic new “five-point” law tightening immigration by relying on votes from the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
A thousand left-wing protesters gathered in front of the CDU headquarters in Berlin, with Bild writing that they “are calling for a ban on the CDU and AfD.”
JUST IN: The German left is now calling for a BAN on the CDU and the AfD.
That is over 50% of the voting population, according to polling.
1,000 demonstrators gathered in Berlin after the CDU and AfD voted together to pass a groundbreaking law to tighten immigration.
BILD… pic.twitter.com/HeVUptFjd8
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) January 29, 2025
This call for a ban comes despite both parties, when their polling numbers are combined, constituting close to 50 percent of the vote in Germany.
Merz’s strategy calls into question the viability of the firewall between the mainstream establishment and the far right and whether this central taboo in German politics will fall.
The move has caused some outrage in Germany including Chancellor Olaf Scholz to question Merz’s commitment to abstain from working with the AfD. The national election is on Feb. 23.
“There are limits one must not cross as a statesman,” Scholz, who leads the Social Democrats, told lawmakers on Wednesday.
In the latest YouGov poll published Wednesday, support for the CDU/CSU was up by one percentage point compared with the previous week to 29%. The AfD gained four points to 23% in second and Scholz’s SPD party was at 15%, down four points. The Greens lost two points at 13%.
In an unusually aggressive speech, Scholz said the tougher immigration legislation Merz wants to push through parliament this week breaches European law. He added that Merz’s CDU/CSU bloc was damaging Germany’s reputation in the world and was calling into question the foundations of the European Union.
“You say you would go all in with your proposals, as you say in a game of poker,” he added.
“But politics in our country is not a game of poker. Cohesion is not a stake. And a German chancellor cannot be a gambler, because in the worst case scenario he will decide between war and peace.”
Merz said in parliament on Wednesday that he would rather accept the AfD’s support than face “the choice of watching powerless as people in our country are threatened, injured or murdered.”
He stressed, however, that he won’t consider an active cooperation with the AfD because of their far-right and extremist policies.
“Democracy is under threat when radicals win power,” Merz said, directly addressing the AfD caucus in parliament.
“That’s why we, and I, will do everything to prevent that from happening.”
However, while there have been no official calls for a ban on the CDU from party bigwigs, the mood could quickly shift if the CDU steps up its cooperation with the AfD. Left-wing political parties are still calling for action against the CDU, with the Green Youth proposing a “firewall” against the party.
“Conservatives who are supporters of Nazis cannot become coalition partners,” said the co-leader of the Green Youth, Jakob Blasel. He said that under the leader Friedrich Merz, the “Greens must not enter a coalition with the CDU and CSU.”
On X, Robert Habeck, the chancellor candidate for the Greens, also called the immigration vote in the Bundestag a “turning point in Germany.”
“Friedrich Merz and the Union have abandoned the consensus of the political center of this house not to make common cause with the extremes,” wrote Habeck.
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel has previously criticized attempts to ban her party, saying that these “reflect the undemocratic spirit of the competing parties.”
Tyler Durden
Thu, 01/30/2025 – 09:58