Incoming German interior minister sceptical about banned party

5/5/2025 5:47

Incoming German interior

minister Alexander Dobrindt suggested on Sunday it was unlikely

the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party would be

banned after the spy agency classified it as "extremist" last

week.



German lawmakers have been discussing outlawing the party

and taking other measures including dismissing civil servants

who are members of the AfD and limiting or halting public

funding.



But Dobrindt told broadcaster ARD he was doubtful whether

the AfD activities identified in the spy agency's report met the

requirements set out for an outright ban.



Guidelines set by the constitutional court say a party must

be shown to be working "combatively and aggressively" to

implement its goals to be banned.



"I'm sceptical, because the aggressive, combative nature of

the party against our democracy must be a defining

characteristic. The Constitutional Court was right to set high

hurdles for banning a party," Dobrindt said.



He added that he was "convinced that the AfD does not need

to be banned, it needs to be governed away, and we need to talk

about the issues that have made the AfD so big".



Dobrindt, a high-profile member of the CSU, the Bavarian

sister party of incoming chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU, said

his ministry would examine the designation in depth and he would

discuss its findings with the spy agency's top brass in person.



SPD leader Lars Klingbeil told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper

that the future government would work to shrink the AfD.



"What I don't believe is that a potential ban procedure,

which could take years, is the sole instrument to bring the AfD

down," Klingbeil, Germany's next vice chancellor, said.



AfD co-leader Alice Weidel accused outgoing Interior

Minister Nancy Faeser of using the spy agency as a "secret

justice system" to discriminate against the party.



"We are a future governing party; even the machinations of

the secret justice system will not be able to prevent that in

the long run," Weidel told the Welt newspaper on Sunday.