Germany’s Minister of Justice, Stefanie Hubig (SPD), says that hundreds of thousands of eposts from the AfD, which ‘unknown individuals’ have leaked online, could be used as evidence in a case paving the way for a ban on the party, which has long reigned supreme at the top of the opinion polls in Germany.
The German minister made the statement in an interview with Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, a regional newspaper for south-western Lower Saxony.
A working group comprising representatives from the federal government and the federal states, which is currently being set up, is expected to assess the possibilities for bringing a case to ban the AfD.
“I am convinced that we must now thoroughly and systematically investigate whether the conditions for a ban are met,” says Hubig.
“The emails can probably also be used as evidence, provided they demonstrate that the AfD is anti-constitutional,” adds Hubig.
There are reportedly around 421,000 emails from the AfD that anonymous individuals have posted online, writes Die Welt. Who has the capacity to do something like this?
The AfD is being monitored at national level by the domestic security service, the Verfassungsschutz, as a suspicious case. Certain state branches of the AfD have been classified as confirmed right-wing extremist organisations by the Verfassungsschutz in their respective federal states.
Angela Merkel sacked the Verfassungsschutz’s former head, Hans-Georg Maaßen, in 2018, not long after he had stated that there were no grounds for classifying the AfD as extremist.
The process of banning a political party is a lengthy one. Only the federal government or one of the two chambers of the national parliament – that is, the Bundestag or the Bundesrat – can initiate such proceedings.
The political signals from Germany’s political landscape have so far suggested that there is not enough support to do so. The question is whether that might change. In the meantime, the uncertainty is likely to weigh heavily on Alice Weidel’s party.
Social Democrats such as Hubig are among the most eager to take the initiative to ban the AfD. ‘For me, it’s clear: if a proposal has a realistic chance of success, it must also be put forward,’ she says.
