German chancellor bars coalition members from fueling AfD ban speculation

Since the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party emerged as the second-largest force in the Bundestag, Germany’s political establishment has been grappling with how to curb its alarming rise.

In recent months, talk of an outright ban on the party has gained traction. However, German Chancellor and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Friedrich Merz has now reportedly barred members of his party from publicly commenting on the possibility of banning the AfD.

According to the Bild publication, Merz issued such a directive during a meeting of the party’s federal presidium on May 19. The article lists one of the many reasons for this decision to be that Merz, like his Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), believes the findings in the report by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which classifies AfD as a clearly right-wing extremist party in early May, to be insufficient grounds for a complete ban. 

For this reason, as the publication notes, Merz does not want further public debate on the topic and he is concerned that it could give the public the impression that the CDU/CSU bloc is trying to eliminate a competing party through political means. Interior Minister Dobrindt spoke during a popular German political talk show on this issue, telling the audience that he does not believe "a party like the AfD can be fought with legal means. Ultimately, that can only be done politically. The most effective way to do that is by solving the obvious problems and challenges facing Germany." 

Nevertheless, the article points out that the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag intends to vote against all AfD candidates that are currently running in the elections for the chairmanships for various parliamentary committees, with the right-wing candidates for the Budget and Legal Affairs Committees already having been voted out. 

By Nazrin Sadigova