After the German counterintelligence of the AfD organization has declared it far-right, the trade union states are faced with the question of how to deal with organization members in civilian service. Hessen and Bavaria have already announced their intention to carry out inspections of the AfD members employed in the civilian service. Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) said on Saturday the paper "Bild" that it would be examined to what degree categorization "has an impact on members and AfD officers in civilian service". "Our staff in police and administration must warrant that they will always defend our free democratic basic order," he added.
Bavarian Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) spoke in a akin tone. "We besides request to research what the consequences of this categorisation for the activities of AfD members in the public sector must have," he besides said to "Bild".
Financing of AfD under scrutiny
Like Herrmann, CDU leader in Lower Saxony Sebastian Lechner believes it is essential to take a closer look at AfD funding. "Conference of Home Ministers should now carefully consider the request to retreat organization funding. I consider it unacceptable to fund right-wing, extremist and anti-constitutional propaganda from taxpayers' money," Lechner said.
Ban or not?
The possible ban procedure, which could be initiated by the Bundestag, the Bundesrat and the national government, raises controversy among home ministers. The Minister of Interior of Thuringia Georg Maier (SPD) told "Bild": "The initiation of the ban procedure is simply a logical consequence of this decision and must now be consistently implemented as a next step".
His Hamburg counterpart Andy Grote (SPD) was more cautious. He told the paper that classifying the organization as utmost right—if confirmed by the court—is a essential condition but not adequate to carry out a possible illegalisation procedure. The next step will be to examine by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution or the national Ministry of the Interior whether the prohibition procedure can be carried out with the required very advanced probability of success.
Police suspected of extremism
According to media reports, disciplinary proceedings or investigations against at least 193 police officers are presently under way in the national states due to suspected right-wing extremist views or conspiracy ideology.
The actual number may be much higher due to the fact that North Rhine-Westphalia, Berlin and Mecklenburg-Pomeranian They did not supply clear figures, reported the RTL broadcaster and the "Stern" magazine, citing their own investigation in the interior ministry of 16 national states. However, it was not established whether the persons afraid were actually members of the AfD.
According to North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin, they have reported about 80 disciplinary cases that are presently under investigation. However, according to their own statements, they were not able to classify any of them as "right" or "left". Mecklenburg-Vorpommern stated that it would not give the current data until the 4th fourth of the year.
"Every case like this is 1 case besides many. civilian service officials must show their commitment to the free democratic basic order set out in the Basic Act in all their behaviours, both on work and outside, and stand up for its behaviour," acknowledged Bavarian Minister of the Interior Joachim Herrmann. The Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia Herbert Reul told the magazine "Stern": "There is no area for extremist views here. Anyone who does not realize will be expelled."
