Commissioner for Eastern Europe: AfD ban would cause major damage

Party ban - Commissioner for Eastern Europe: AfD ban would cause major damage

The Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany, Carsten Schneider (SPD), speaks out against a ban on the AfD- clearly contradicting his party leader Saskia Esken. Schneider told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" newspaper that he does not believe in this at all. A party ban would be very difficult to enforce and he considers the legal chances of success to be low. However, the political dimension is crucial.

"If we ban a party that we don't like, but which is still leading in the polls, it will lead to even greater solidarity with it," said Schneider. "And even from people who are not AfD sympathizers or voters. The collateral damage would be very high."

In all polls for the Bundestag elections, the AfD is in second place behind the CDU/CSU with more than 20 percent, well ahead of the governing parties SPD, Greens and FDP. In Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg, where new state parliaments will be elected in September, polls show the AfD in the lead, in some cases by a considerable margin. In Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, the party is classified as "definitely right-wing extremist" by the state offices for the protection of the constitution.

Schneider wants to position the AfD in terms of content

With his rejection of a ban procedure, Schneider is now clearly positioning himself against SPD leader Esken, who still considers a ban application to be an option. "Such a party ban is rightly subject to high hurdles. But I am convinced that we should keep reviewing it," Esken recently told the German Press Agency. "It is important that we talk about banning the AfD and that voters are shaken up."

Schneider, on the other hand, emphasized that the aim must be to confront the AfD and make it clear to voters "what the consequences of its substantive positions would be. It voted against the minimum wage. It wants to abolish inheritance tax, i.e. less redistribution". In terms of social policy, the party maintains "the backward social image of the 1950s, which must be terrible for many East German women".

The Vice President of the Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens), also spoke out in favor of a substantive debate with the AfD - but did not rule out a ban procedure. "If a party directly challenges our free democratic basic order, our constitution with its fundamental rights, the constitutional bodies must of course deal with it," she told the Funke Mediengruppe newspapers. This is not about banning a party because you don't like it.

Kubicki: Make your own political offers

Esken also faced opposition from coalition partner FDP: "If you want the AfD to disappear from the scene again, you should make better political offers of your own and not keep talking about banning the party," party deputy Wolfgang Kubicki told the Funke newspapers. "We have failed if voters turn their backs on us, nobody else has."

Thorsten Frei, Parliamentary Secretary of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag, cited "good government work, less bickering and politics for the center" as a recipe against the AfD. "Such stupid discussions are more like grist to the mill of the far-right party," Frei wrote on the online platform X (formerly Twitter).

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1. Carsten Schneider, the Federal Government Commissioner for Eastern Germany from the SPD, strongly opposes a potential ban on the AfD in Saxony.
2. Schneider emphasizes that enforcing a party ban on the AfD, which is leading in polls and classified as right-wing extremist in Saxony, would be difficult and unlikely to succeed legally.
3. The AfD is consistently ranked second in all Bundestag election polls behind the CDU/CSU and significantly ahead of the SPD, Greens, and FDP.
4. In several eastern states, including Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg, set for new state parliament elections in September, the AfD leads in polls, sometimes by a substantial margin.
5. Schneider advocates for engaging with the AfD by highlighting the consequences of their positions on issues like the minimum wage and inheritance tax.
6. The Vice President of the Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens), supports a substantive debate with the AfD but does not rule out potential prohibition proceedings.
7. Coalition partner FDP also opposes a party ban, with deputy Wolfgang Kubicki advising to improve political offers to attract voters instead of focusing on a ban.
8. CDU/CSU parliamentary group's Parliamentary Secretary Thorsten Frei recommends better governance, less bickering, and a focus on the center to counter the AfD's influence.
9. A potential AfD ban would lead to greater solidarity with the party due to perceived suppression, warned Schneider, who serves as Germany's eastern commissioner.
10. In Saxony-Anhalt, the party is also classified as right-wing extremist by the state offices for the protection of the constitution, in addition to its classification in Saxony and Thuringia.
11. The radical right-wing CSU in Bavaria also faces calls for a potential party ban or prohibition proceedings in some contexts, demonstrating the ongoing debate on freedom of expression and extremism in Germany.

Source: www.stern.de