Germany opens debate on banning the far-right

The intention of a group of deputies from different parties in the Bundestag to file a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court to request the ban of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has reopened the debate in this country about the convenience and chances of success of this initiative. For the German lower house to debate and vote on a petition for the illegality of a party, a minimum of 37 parliamentarians must sign the petition.

German media highlight that those who support the proposal to go to the highest German court are, however, many more than necessary and belong to the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Greens, both in government, but also to the conservative opposition of the Christian Democratic and Bavarian Social Christian Union (CDU/CSU), as well as The Left. A simple majority in the German Parliament would be enough to go to the Constitutional Court.

The protagonists of the initiative aspire for AfD to be declared unconstitutional by the court based in Karlsruhe, which would lead to a ban on all activities and state intervention in all its assets. In the parliamentary motion, deputies accuse AfD of wanting to abolish the free and democratic basic order and adopting an "actively militant and aggressive stance" against that basic order. The group's motion identifies numerous violations of human dignity by AfD, such as calls for what Alternative for Germany calls "remigration of millions" of immigrants or mass and forced deportation of foreign citizens. The motion also considers numerous statements by regional and national presidents of AfD as violations of the human dignity of migrants, Muslims, and sexual minorities.

Supporters of the lawsuit believe that this is the only way to stop a formation that in the last regional elections held in September in three East German federal states achieved resounding victories with campaigns focused on demanding the expulsion of undesirable foreigners and ending refugee reception, but also with criticism of the European Union and sympathies towards Russian President Vladimir Putin. While it crowned itself as the leading political force in Thuringia, it came second in Saxony and Brandenburg, almost displacing the ruling parties, Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, respectively. Nationally, polls for Germany's general elections in September 2025 give AfD up to 19% of votes, only behind conservatives but with a wide lead over SPD or The Greens.

Kevin Kühnert, Secretary-General of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling SPD, expressed his reservations this Tuesday towards the initiative supported by at least a dozen of his colleagues in the Bundestag. In his opinion, filing a lawsuit to ban AfD with the Constitutional Court is currently too risky due to a lack of sufficient evidence to prove its unconstitutionality. "Banning a party is not about Mr. Kühnert rejecting it or thinking it's fascist, but about ultimately being able to present courts with evidence that says it is clearly against the Constitution and therefore must be banned," said SPD's Secretary-General. "For now I have no such evidence. So I would say: be very careful," he commented.

Conservative parliamentary leaders also currently reject trying to ban the far-right party. "I don't know anyone in CSU's parliamentary group who supports this motion," said Alexander Dobrindt, top representative of Bavarian Social Christians, to 'Augsburger Allgemeine' newspaper. For Dobrindt, the planned motion "is wrong and counterproductive." Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz himself stated at the end of last May that banning AfD is not an issue that concerns him at present. It is "a very difficult matter in democracy," for which there are very high obstacles, commented Germany's head of government after recalling that previous lawsuits against other much smaller and more radical far-right formations were unsuccessful at their time.

In 2017, a prohibition procedure against the neo-Nazi-leaning National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) failed for the second time. Karlsruhe judges then ruled that this formation, without institutional representation at national, regional or municipal level, was so insignificant that it did not pose a serious threat to the German Constitution. However, earlier this year, the Constitutional Court ordered suspension of state funding for the party, which has since been renamed Die Heimat (The Homeland). In Federal Republic history only one political formation has been declared unconstitutional by Germany's highest court. In 1956 during Cold War times judges banned all activities of the German Communist Party (KPD).